Abbot Hall Art Gallery

I have only explored the museum over here in Google maps Street view. It looks like a great place to visit (soon). Among the curiosities I could see there, I am wondering, is it a stuffed cat sitting by the door? Most amusing.

Good collection of art spanning the centuries

Superb curation of local artists and major International exhibits. Highly recomended.

Wonderful gallery with an excellent collection of 20th Century art.

Wonderful gallery, great exhibitions and art related activities.

Have some very rare and historically interesting pieces, the exhibitions are intelligent and well sourced. On a political level it's just not right paying so much to see art work.

We only visited the Museum of Lakeland Life, not the art gallery (for which there is an additional charge). Would highly recommend it. It is a small, manageable museum (no museum fatigue!) set out in a series of rooms, some depicting typical historic rooms from the area. The first room for example is a parlour with 17th century panelling and furniture. There is also a bedroom and kitchen (look out for the bacon settle) set out in the same way. Other rooms have information and artefacts from the history of industry in the area. The museum is also a must for Arthur Ransome fans as there is a room dedicated to him and his work, with many of his personal items such as his desk, typewriter, pipes etc and some of his personal library. I particularly liked the framed originals of some of the drawings he did for the Swallows and Amazons books.

Lovely building but artwork not to our taste. Saved us from the rain for a little while.