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Tuesday 10am - 5pm Wednesday 10am - 5pm Thursday 10am - 5pm Friday 10am - 5pm Saturday 10am - 5pm

The Armitt : Museum, Gallery, Library

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The Armitt : Museum, Gallery, Library

Founded by Mary Louisa Armitt in 1912. Our collections cover the stories of Ambleside & its people

Links to our website and other socials here: https://linktr.ee/thearmitt

01/09/2026

September is here, and with the new month comes new events!

Take some time to scroll through and see this month at The Armitt. From walking tours to collections talks, this month's events offer something for everyone.

Tickets can be booked through the link in our bio or at Armitt.com.

31/08/2026

A fantastic opportunity to win some amazing prizes!

You can find details on how to enter below…

30/08/2026

The team enjoyed a lovely day out at Grasmere Lakeland Sports & Show today, talking all things Beatrix Potter, current 2026 exhibitions and, of course, the history of Grasmere Sports.

The Armitt holds a collection of photographs, records, and publications covering the event's history of over 170 years. We've celebrated this history through our attendance and collection spotlights over the last few years. It was incredible to see people finding themselves and relatives in photos from the archives whilst also learning more about the museum and our ties to the event through our collection.

All in all, a fantastic day with only a bit of rain!

29/08/2026

Talk Series: Life before 999

Join us for our monthly as the Ambleside Oral History Group explores Life before 999.

"They come back with the fire tender - all the way from Kendal to Troutbeck Bridge"
Life in the Lake District before '999' - how emergencies were dealt with in the early 20th century, including memories of the man who drove the first motor ambulance, a fireman from the days of the steam pump engine and a lady whose family home was the telephone exchange.

This talk also includes recently added extracts from an interview with Andy Caple of the Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team. He gives an account of the Team rescuing stranded passengers in a coach at Thirlmere during Storm Desmond. Whilst this is not exactly history yet – it happened in 2015 – it is an example of how emergency services now operate.

-2 PM.
- 29th of September.
- £6.00 tickets per person.

27/08/2026

A turbulent friendship: When Martineau met Brontë...

Harriet Martineau of Ambleside was a renowned writer, abolitionist and social theorist who counted some of the most famous people in the land as friends and admirers. She lived at The Knoll near The Armitt, plugged into the literary and social affairs of the age.

Painfully shy Charlotte Brontë of Haworth was still better known as Currer Bell, author of the sensational, runaway success Jane Eyre. When they met, it was a meeting of startling minds. Find out how their remarkable friendship began, flourished - and ended.

This talk gives a rare insight into one of the more fascinating, albeit complex, literary friendships of the mid 1800s.

Details:
-2 PM.
-26th September.
- £10.00 Tickets per person.

25/08/2026

We are hosting another next month, with Annemarie Bilclough from the V&A giving a glimpse inside the V&A's Beatrix Potter collections.

The V&A holds thousands of artworks, photographs, manuscripts and books by, or relating to, Beatrix Potter, making it the world’s largest Potter archive. Using highlights from several important gifts, this talk will describe the people behind them and show how the V&A’s collection gives insight into unusual aspects of Potter’s life story.

This is an online talk and details will be provided upon the purchase of a ticket.

- 2 PM
- 25th September
- £5.00 tickets per person.

See our website https://www.armitt.com/event-directory/ to book an online ticket.

23/08/2026

On the 19th of September, Janet Edwards will be giving a talk at The Armitt on the Tales based around Sawrey and Hill Top.

You may have read some of these stories for yourself and thought, "How did Beatrix Potter come up with these ideas?" Janet's talk will tell you about the background to these Tales, beginning with the Tale of the Pie and the Patty Pan and ending with The Tale of Pigling Bland, the last of the Sawrey books.

We have limited tickets for this event, as attendees will get a more in-depth look into the images from these books.

- 2 PM.
- 19th September.
- £10.00 tickets per person.

Photograph credits:
Beatrix in the porch at Hill Top, 1913; Lloyd E. Cotsen Collection of Potter Family Photographs, COTSEN5, Cotsen Children's Library, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

21/08/2026

Join us on the 16th of September for a guided walk around Hawkshead with .

Discover the stories of the mundane, the mischievous and the magical, including an eccentric friend with a ghost, a doctor who played golf and even where she got her shoes mended! A guided walk of less than two miles on level ground, exploring in and around the village of Hawkshead in the Lake District.

The meeting place is by the benches outside the public toilets / Hawkshead Chocolate Factory.

- Wednesday 16th September.
- 1 PM - 3 PM.
- Tickets £15.00 per person.

This event has limited spaces available so pre-booking is required, head to the link in our bio to grab your tickets now!

20/08/2026

DATE MOVED - our Kurt Schwitters walking tour of Ambleside will now take place on the 12th of September between 12:30 - 15:00.

WALK IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF KURT SCHWITTERS - an afternoon of reflective walking on the life and work of Kurt Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) who spent the last few years of his life in Ambleside. He was a German artist, who became famous for his poem Anna Blume, worked in several genres and media, including Dadaism, constructivism, surrealism, poetry, sound, painting, sculpture, graphic design, typography, and what came to be known as installation art. He is most famous for his collages, called "Merz Pictures".

Padgett's art practice looks at the history of art and literature. It includes spending a year being inspired to create artworks and texts around the lives of famous artists and poets. He then creates sculptures of those figures and sites these internationally. His subjects include Schwitters, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Wilfred Owen and Humbert Wolfe.

- Tickets £12.00 pe person
- September 12th
- 12:30 - 15:00

Address

Rydal Road
Ambleside
LA229BL

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 5pm
Saturday	10am - 5pm

Telephone

+441539431212

Website

http://www.armitt.com/

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