kendal group travel guide

Planning Your Visit and Coach Parking Shopping and Retail Festivals and Events Arts and Culture History and Heritage Visitor Information Welcome to Kendal Planning Your Group Visit Many of Kendal’s visitor attractions offer special offers, rates and incentives for groups and their organisers. Please ask the individual attractions for details when booking your visit. Coach Parking Quaker Tapestry Exhibition © Mark Carr Travelling to Kendal Abbot Hall Art Gallery Peppercorn Lane, Kendal LA9 5AL Kendal has excellent transport links and is Pre-booking preferred, call 01539 722464 easily accessible by road and rail networks. 4 hours £8.00 Full day £15.00 It’s ideal for a stand alone group visit or use FREE if visiting Abbot Hall or Museum of Lakeland Life Kendal as a base for visiting the nearby Lake District, Yorkshire Dales or the North West. Kendal Town Football Club Parkside Road, Kendal LA9 7BL The Lake District National Park boundary is Pre-booking preferred, call 07980 660 428 under a mile away from Kendal it’s just a short or by email: distance to: [email protected] Bowness-on-Windermere 10 miles 4 hours £8.00 Full day £15.00 Ambleside 13 miles Brewery Arts Centre © Tony West Hawkshead 17 miles Kendal College Grasmere 19 miles Milnthorpe Road, Kendal LA9 5AY Parking available at weekends, public holidays and all week during college holiday periods. Kendal by Road Pay and display machine in operation. The bustling market town of Kendal, built Full day £15.00 Kendal is just 8 miles from Junction 36 of in distinctive limestone, is a popular hub the M6, with the A6 passing through the for shopping and culture in South Lakeland. town centre. Kendal Leisure Centre Home to exciting festivals, a vibrant arts Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7HX centre, fine museums and world renowned Parking available for coaches art gallery. Kendal by Rail visiting K Village – the Lakes Outlet. Historically, ‘The Auld Grey Town’ was one Oxenholme – The Lake District railway station Parking for coaches is FREE, however of the most important woollen textile centres is on the West Coast mainline (2 miles south pre-booking essential on 01539 732 363. in the country, producing ‘Kendal Green’ east of Kendal). The ‘Lakes Line’ offers a short and other ‘Kendal cottons’ – its numerous connection to Kendal and on to Windermere yards were once filled with workshops and the Lake District. processing cloth, leather and foodstuffs. Coach Set-Down Points Kendal was also a centre for shoe making, Behind Blackhall Road Car Park carpet and snuff manufacture, and near Majestic Wine Warehouse (LA9 4BT) synonymous with the production of the Highgate (Kendal Town Centre) famous Kendal Mint Cake. by the Shakespeare Inn (LA9 4HE) This guide is designed to help you plan K Village – The Lakes Outlet your next group visit to Kendal, and includes Meet and greet outside main Lound Road information about coach parking and ways entrance on A65 (Sat Nav LA9 7DZ). to help your group make the most of their visit. Brewery Arts Centre © Henry Iddon We look forward to welcoming you to Kendal.

Historic Kendal Castle from where superb views of the town may be enjoyed. © Dave Willis / Cumbria Tourism www.exploresouthlakeland.co.uk/coaches Shopping & Retail Shopping & Retail

Kendal offers a relaxing and enjoyable shopping experience where famous high street names and brands sit alongside a fabulous collection of speciality craft, food and designer shops and markets. The town centre is also easily explored Café at the Quaker on foot. Tapestry Exhibition © Mark Carr Highgate and Stricklandgate are the main shopping routes through the town, and off them you’ll find the shopping centres and The Elephant Yard Shopping Centre pedestrian-friendly Finkle Street and Stricklandgate, Kendal LA9 4QQ Market Place. Telephone: 01539 720 170 Hosting a blend of national and independent Make sure you explore the many shops and offering the latest ranges in designer cobbled yards and ginnels which house fashion, shoes, cosmetics and gifts. some interesting and unusual shops. www.elephantyard.com Several streets support mainly specialist, independent retailers as well as some Wainwright’s Yard Stricklandgate, Kendal LA9 4DP interesting architecture. An award-winning, custom-designed shopping Remember to look up when shopping in area in the heart of Kendal, named in memory Kendal and take the time to visit Kirkland of the famous fell walker and author Alfred Wainwright. Old Town, Stramongate and Wildman Street. www.wainwrightsyard.com A pleasant walk at the southern end of the town takes you to K Village – Westmorland Shopping Centre the Lakes Outlet. & Blackhall Yard Stricklandgate, Kendal LA9 4LR Telephone: 01593 740 060 Kendal Markets Discover a unique blend of Victorian heritage With a market charter dating from 1189, alongside the vibrancy of a modern, indoor shopping environment. K Village - The Lakes Outlet Kendal still boasts a number of popular and vibrant markets. www.westmorlandshopping.com For eating out there’s a choice of cosy The indoor market is open from Monday K Village – The Lakes Outlet to Saturday and outdoor markets are held Lound Road, Kendal LA9 7DZ tearooms, pavement cafes, traditional every Wednesday and Saturday in the Telephone: 01539 732 363 pubs or stylish restaurants, serving town centre marketplace and along Boasting a picturesque riverside location, some fantastic Cumbrian produce. into Stramongate. K Village is recognised as ‘Shoe Heaven’ with the largest Clarks in the North West alongside The town also hosts a farmer’s market on top quality brands at impressive discounts. Don’t forget to take home some of the last Friday of each month. Open 7 days a week with full disabled access. the famous - and still locally made - www.kvillage.co.uk Kendal Mint Cake. Kendal Mint Cake © Martin Campbell

Photograph © Dave Willis / Cumbria Tourism

www.exploresouthlakeland.co.uk/coacheswww.exploresouthlakeland.co.uk Castle

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Country Fest (May) Explore the rich culture of Kendal and its A real taste of the countryside, celebrating the surrounding area by visiting the fabulous quality and diversity of local food, drink and collections of galleries, museums, historic country pursuits. houses and arts centres. www.westmorlandshow.co.uk Opening times vary, please check with individual Bunka-sai Festival (July) attractions. Celebrate popular Japanese culture with an exhibition of Manga artwork, a programme Mintfest © Steven Barber Abbot Hall © Lakeland Arts Trust / Tony West Kendal Museum of Japanese cinema and a noodle bar. Station Road, Kendal LA9 6BT. Tel: 01539 815 597 www.breweryarts.co.uk One of the oldest museums in the UK with fascinating displays on the natural history, geology Lake District Summer Music (August) and archaeology of the Kendal area. One of the UK’s biggest music festivals, featuring an inspirational programme of events www.kendalmuseum.org.uk and classical concerts. Museum of Lakeland Life www.ldsm.org.uk Abbot Hall, Kendal LA9 5AL. Tel: 01539 722 464 Mintfest: Kendal International This award-winning museum uncovers the unique Street Arts Festival (September) customs and traditions of the Lake District with Companies and artists from across the globe take re-created Victorian street scenes and Lakeland over Kendal for a packed weekend of exciting farmhouse rooms. performance fun. www.lakelandmuseum.org.uk www.lakesalive.org Abbot Hall Art Gallery Kendal Torchlight Carnival (September) Kirkland, Kendal LA9 5AL. Tel: 01539 722 464 From street entertainment to moonlight mazes, this One of Britain’s finest independent galleries, spectacular carnival can be enjoyed by all the family. housed in an elegant Georgian mansion. Works www.kendaltorchlightcarnival.co.uk by Romney, Ruskin and Turner hang in magnificent Westmorland County Show (September) period rooms, alongside modern artists such as Ben Nicholson and Lucian Freud. One of Britain’s oldest and largest livestock shows with events, marquees, over 350 trade stands, www.abbothall.org.uk exhibitions and England’s largest local produce Brewery Arts Centre food hall. Highgate, Kendal LA9 4HE. Tel: 01539 725 133 www.westmorlandshow.co.uk There’s always something going on at this lively arts Westmorland Beer & Cider Festival (October) venue. Enjoy touring theatre, music, dance, film, A long established annual event showcasing 55 comedy acts, restaurants, cafes and bars. real ales, plus ciders, perries and continental beers. www.breweryarts.co.uk www.camrawestmorland.org Quaker Tapestry Exhibition Kendal Festival of Food (October) Stramongate, Kendal LA9 4BH. Tel: 01539 722 975 Showcasing the very best in local produce through A captivating, international embroidery of social events, demonstrations and special food offers. history made by 4,000 people from 15 countries www.kendalfestivaloffood.co.uk between 1981 and 1996 in 77 hand-embroidered Kendal Mountain Festival (November) panels. There’s also a delightful café. The unmissable event of the year, featuring films, www.quaker-tapestry.co.uk debates, presentations, photography, entertainment and drama. www.mountainfest.co.uk Live music at The Brewery Arts Centre © Tony West

www.exploresouthlakeland.co.uk/coaches History & Heritage Exploring Kendal

Today’s Kendal can be traced back to the Kendal Parish Church Discover Kendal Walks 1 and 2 available Serpentine Woods 8th century, when the settlement of Kirkland Kirkland, Kendal LA9 5AF from Kendal Tourist Information Centre A myriad of paths and an intriguing Alphabet Telephone: 01539 721 248 was established near a crossing point over These two walking tours, published by Trail lead through this steep-sided wood, the River Kent. Here a church was built and This five-aisled church (said to be the third widest Kendal Civic Society, guide you around the culminating at The Heights for panoramic in the UK) dates from the 13th century and is now Kirkland became a monastic estate. historic areas of Kendal and each can be views over the Lake District fells. The wood considered one of England’s Great Churches. Kendal’s first castle was erected at Castle completed in less than 2 hours. Kendal Civic contains remnants of Victorian landscaping www.kendalparishchurch.co.uk Howe but later replaced by stone-built Kendal Society also organise guided walking tours including a summerhouse, ‘fairy glen’ and Castle on the opposite side of the river. This around the town. wishing well. Castle Dairy 13th century castle was the seat of power and Wildman Street, Kendal LA9 5AF Telephone 01539 724 302 or visit administration for the barons of Kendal for Kendal’s Green Spaces Telephone: 01539 733 946 www.kendalcivicsociety.org.uk for details. over 200 years. A beautifully restored Grade 1 Listed medieval For peaceful grassed areas ideal for Built around 1200, the castle was home to building which is now a restaurant and art gallery, Town Trails picnics and quiet relaxation discover Abbot run by Kendal College. Hall Park with bowling green and children’s the Parr family who held the barony in the mid- Discover Kendal’s unique heritage by play area. Nobles Rest and Maude’s Meadow 15th century; famously, Katherine Parr was the www.castledairy.co.uk following a town trail. Start at the sign outside is a peaceful grassed area with a woodland sixth wife of Henry VIII. After 1483 it slowly fell the Town Hall, one of 17 around the town, backdrop and Goose Holme, a grassed area into ruins and today, only parts of 1657 Chocolate House and swap between trails en route. the castle wall and tower remain. Branthwaite Brow, Kendal LA8 4TX next to the river with an 18-hole putting green Telephone: 01539 740 702 (open in the summer). During the medieval period, the market town The Riverside Walk of Kendal developed to the north of Kirkland Step into this Aladdin’s cave of chocolates and be A pleasant path along the river Kent between tantalised by the sight and smell of chocolate in (separated by the ancient boundary of the all its delightful forms. Nether Bridge and Miller Bridge, avoiding Black Beck) and the barons laid out the the busy town centre. Look out for the www.chocolatehouse1657.co.uk town with long burgage plots behind the street interpretation boards which tell you a bit frontages. Over time, these became ‘yards’ more about the wildlife that can be found Farrer’s of Kendal housing numerous workshops for weaving, here today. dyeing, shearing, dry-salting and tanning. 13 Stricklandgate, Kendal LA9 4LY Telephone: 01539 731 707 Kendal Castle and Castle Hill It was the woollen industry that brought fame One of the oldest coffee roasting and blending and wealth to the town and sustained its establishments in the country, serving customers Public footpaths link the town to the castle economy for over 600 years - Kendal’s motto since 1819, and still has most of its original and its surrounding parkland which first of Pannus mihi panis which translates as ‘Cloth fittings intact. opened as a public park to mark Queen (or wool) is my bread’. www.farrers.net Victoria’s diamond jubilee. Glorious views can Quaker Tapestry Exhibition © Mark Carr be enjoyed in all directions with a panoramic K Shoes Heritage Centre panel identifying the circling fells. K Village, Lound Road, Kendal LA9 7DZ Telephone: 01539 732 363 K Shoes started making shoes here in the 19th century (the ‘K’ standing for Kendal). The museum explores the history of the original factory, the lives of its employees and its effect on Kendal’s community. www.kvillage.co.uk

Abbot Hall © Lakeland Arts Trust / Tony West Wainwright’s Yard Footprints © Dave Willis

www.exploresouthlakeland.co.uk/coaches Additional Visitor Information

Toilets Where to Stay Kendal operates a Courtesy Toilet Scheme Kendal has a wide range of accommodation to which enables members of the public to use the suit all budgets, including a hostel, B&Bs and some facilities in participating businesses without the larger 3 star hotels. need to make a purchase. More accommodation information can be found Leaflets are available from the Tourist Information by visiting www.golakes.co.uk Centre and other key locations in the town centre.

Kendal Tourist Information Centre More Useful Websites Made in Cumbria, Stramongate LA9 4BH www.golakes.co.uk/kendal Tel: 01539 735891 Email: [email protected] www.exploresouthlakeland.co.uk For advice on events, where to eat, where www.kendaltowncouncil.gov.uk to stay and what to do in Kendal and surrounding area. www.kendalcivicsociety.org.uk

This booklet has been supported by: K Village - The Lakes Outlet Kendal Futures Kendal Town Council Kendal Local Area Partnership South Lakeland District Council Design by The Plain Creative Agency, Kendal Design by The Plain Creative Agency, www.exploresouthlakeland.co.uk/coaches Booths & Wainwright’s Yard © Dave Willis