Abbot Hall — Attraction in Kendal

I am afraid that it was a bit of a disappointing experience. We intended to have our lunch there so headed for the cafe. Both my wife and I have our own Blue Badge so we headed for the disabled parking which has always close to the entrance and as we all know these days, we have to pay the same as anyone else. Now that is bad enough, but in this instance, the payment machine was as far away from the disabled parking as it could be which meant that one of us had to struggle walking to it to pay our £1,20. But when we got into the cafe we discovered that it only served cake and drinks so that was a big let down.

Anyway, after we had had what was on offer we decided to view the recently opened gallery but having failed to renew our membership beforehand access was going to cost us £9.00 each, so we did not bother and came away. It is now unlikely that we will renew our membership which is sad because we have often gone to both Blackwell or The Steamboat...

Appalling and disappointing exhibition to mark the reopening of a once excellent art gallery.

I have visited Abbott Hall many times in the past and seen many outstanding exhibitions (Frink etc). The gallery is reputed to have one of the largest permanent collections of artworks of its type in the North West. I had therefore been looking forward to visiting again after the very long closure for refurbishments. What a major disappointment it turned out to be. Only a handful of pantings from the collection were on show (mostly not the best) and the rest of the now extended gallery was filled with third rate drawings, boring and noisy videos and varies detritus by an unknown obscure “artist” named Julie Brook.

What an appalling way to mark the reopening of the what was once an outstanding art gallery! And at a cost of £9 entry. While this covers entry for one year I very much doubt that I will ever...

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...