Armitt Museum

The Lake District

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Despite some damage incurred during the 2015 floods, Ambleside's excellent little museum is now back up and running. It hosts some intriguing seasonal exhibitions alongside its core collection, populated with artefacts relating to important Lakeland characters such as National Trust founder Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, pioneering Lakeland photographers Herbert Bell and the Abraham Brothers and a certain Beatrix Potter, who bequeathed a number of botanical watercolours to the museum, along with several first editions of her books.

There are also original canvases by the modernist artist Kurt Schwitters, a German refugee who settled in Ambleside after WWII.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

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    Hill Top

    5.7 MILES

    Two miles south of Hawkshead, in the tiny village of Near Sawrey, this idyllic farmhouse was purchased in 1905 by Beatrix Potter and was used as…

  • Holker Hall country house & Summer Garden near Cartmel, Cumbria, England; Shutterstock ID 707297809; full: digital; gl: 65050; netsuite: digital; your: Barbara Di Castro 707297809

    Holker Hall

    17.05 MILES

    Three miles east of Cartmel on the B5278, Holker Hall has been the family seat of the Cavendish family for nigh on four centuries. Though parts of it date…

  • Autumn scene at Rydal Mount, house and garden of the English Victorian poet William Wordsworth from 1813 to his death in 1850. It is in Rydal village near Ambleside in the English Lake District, Cumbria, UK. 1281836015 fells

    Rydal Mount

    1.16 MILES

    The poet William Wordsworth's most famous residence in the Lake District is undoubtedly Dove Cottage, but he actually spent a great deal more time at…

  • Grasmere, Lake District, UK - June 2017: Dove Cottage - picturesque home of the poet William Wordsworth. 690001708

    Dove Cottage & The Wordsworth Museum

    2.58 MILES

    On the edge of Grasmere, this tiny, creeper-clad cottage (formerly a pub called the Dove & Olive Bough) was famously inhabited by William Wordsworth…

  • Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort. Lancaster, Lancashire, England, on Monday, 11th April, 2022. 1392477051

    Lancaster Castle

    27.36 MILES

    Lancaster's most imposing building is the castle, built in 1150 but added to over the centuries: the Well Tower dates from 1325 and is also known as the…

  • Wordsworth House

    Wordsworth House

    22.71 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…

  • Lowther Estate

    Lowther Estate

    14.93 MILES

    This sprawling country estate once belonged to one of the Lake District's most venerable families and is currently undergoing a huge, multimillion-pound…

  • Windermere & the Islands

    Windermere & the Islands

    4.95 MILES

    Windermere gets its name from the old Norse, Vinandr mere (Vinandr's lake; so 'Lake Windermere' is actually tautologous). Encompassing 5.7 sq miles…

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Nearby The Lake District attractions

1. Bridge House

0.08 MILES

The town's best-known landmark is Bridge House, a tiny cottage that spans the clattering brook of Stock Ghyll. Now occupied by a National Trust shop, it's…

2. Galava Roman Fort

0.88 MILES

The foundations of Ambleside's ruined roman fort, built c AD 79, can be seen just west of the Waterhead jetties. The land is now owned by the National…

3. Rydal Mount

1.16 MILES

The poet William Wordsworth's most famous residence in the Lake District is undoubtedly Dove Cottage, but he actually spent a great deal more time at…

4. Skelwith Bridge

2.18 MILES

Three miles south of Grasmere, Skelwith Bridge is little more than a knot of cottages along the banks of the River Brathay. Since the 19th century it's…

5. Townend

2.47 MILES

This fascinating farmhouse offers an insight into Lakeland life c 1700. It once belonged to farmer Ben Browne and his family, who made a living by…

6. Dove Cottage & The Wordsworth Museum

2.58 MILES

On the edge of Grasmere, this tiny, creeper-clad cottage (formerly a pub called the Dove & Olive Bough) was famously inhabited by William Wordsworth…

7. Elterwater

2.69 MILES

Named by Norse settlers after the colonies of whooper swans that still swoop across its surface every winter, Elterwater (literally 'swan lake') presents…

8. St Oswald's Church

2.91 MILES

Named after a Viking saint, Grasmere's medieval chapel is where Wordsworth and his family attended church service every Sunday for many years. It's also…