Visit a Museum and explore Keswick's colourful history

The Keswick and North Lakes region has a rich social and industrial heritage including slate and lead mining, pencil manufacture and farming. Many great poets and writers have been inspired by the great scenic beauty of the area; Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, Ruskin, Beatrix Potter and Walpole all have connections with Keswick and the North Lakes.

The Keswick Museum and Art Gallery  is closed for refurbishment and will be reopening in 2014. To fuel your interest in the history of the area, visit the Cumberland Pencil Museum, the Keswick Mining Museum or go underground at the Honister Slate Mine. Visit Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum. In Cockermouth you will find Wordsworth House the birth place of William and Dorothy Wordsworth and the Cumberland Toy and Model Museum