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.
Visit the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery to find out about Keswick's sometimes surprising past. 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. In Cockermouth you will find Wordsworth House the birth place of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, the Lakeland Sheep and Wool Centre and the Cumberland Toy and Model Museum.
