Rum Story

Cumbria & the Lakes


This budget museum explores Whitehaven's rum-running history through a mix of waxwork models and dioramas, including an 18th-century sugar workshop and a debauched 'punch tavern'. It's fun, if tacky.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Cumbria & the Lakes attractions

1. St Nicholas Church

0.06 MILES

Whitehaven's red-brick Victorian church was burned to the ground during a huge fire in 1971. Only the clock tower remains, but the nave is now a pleasant…

2. Beacon

0.22 MILES

In the coastal town of Whitehaven, this intriguing museum explores the town's maritime history. It's split into four levels: floor 1 hosts temporary…

3. St Bees Head

4.13 MILES

Five-and-a-half miles south of Whitehaven and 1½ miles north of the tiny town of St Bees, this wind-battered headland is one of Cumbria's most important…

4. Wordsworth House

11.93 MILES

The poet William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 at this handsome Georgian house at the end of Main St. Built around 1745, the house has been…

5. Jennings Brewery

12.12 MILES

Real-ale aficionados will be familiar with the Jennings name – it has been brewing beers since 1874 and its pints are pulled at pubs all over the Lake…

6. Wastwater

14.27 MILES

In his 1810 Guide to the Lakes, William Wordsworth described Wastwater as 'long, narrow, stern and desolate', and it's a description that still seems apt…

7. St Olaf's Church

14.61 MILES

Supposedly one of the tiniest chapels in England, this 16th-century church is full of atmosphere. Legend claims the roof beams were salvaged from a Viking…

8. Whinlatter Forest Park

15.78 MILES

Encompassing 4.6 sq miles of pine, larch and spruce, Whinlatter is England's only true mountain forest, rising sharply to 790m about 5 miles from Keswick…