Abbot Hall

04/06/2026

'Drawing with Lela' Summer Art Club at Abbot Hall! 🧑‍🎨

This August, young artists aged 8–14 can join local artist Lela Harris at Abbot Hall for a series of hands-on drawing workshops inspired by Familial Traces 🎨

Experiment with new materials, learn drawing techniques, and create your own portraits, landscapes and still lifes in a welcoming gallery setting 🖼️

On Wednesdays throughout August
10.30am–12.30pm
From £10 per family

All materials included.
Find out more and book your place here:

Join local artist Lela Harris this summer for a weekly drawing workshop series designed especially for

03/06/2026

Astrid, our Creative Producer for Communities, hosted a workshop for on Saturday ❤️

The group created some beautiful artwork to add to The Paper Quilt Project, looked at and discussed our newly acquired Percy (Roberta) Kelly letters, and help write the interpretations for them.

If you would like to find out more about these letters and other Q***r artists and artworks within our gallery, Astrid is hosting a Q***r Stories on Display Tour for Kendal Pride 🏳️‍🌈

The tour is on Saturday 13 June, 1-1.30pm, with tickets coming soon!

01/06/2026

Step into the world of Lady Anne Clifford at Abbot Hall.

Join Kendal Community Theatre and The Clifford Consort for Lady Anne Clifford – A Picture in Words and Music, an atmospheric evening of theatre and live period music inspired by Lady Anne's diaries and The Great Picture.

Performed on period instruments within the historic surroundings of Abbot Hall, this unique concert brings the story of one of Cumbria's most remarkable women to life.

📅 Saturday 6 June
🎟️ Book here: lakelandarts.org.uk/events/lady-anne-clifford-a-picture-in-words-and-music/

20/05/2026

Bellwethers, our current exhibition exploring stories of fragility and survival, has a book of poetry written and created by 160 people from South Cumbria who have been affected by homelessness, substance recovery, and other profound challenges.

“Bellwethers is a remarkable collection; moving, powerful, and in origin and texture like nothing I've read before. It takes the form of a chorus-work of poems and songs, summoned into being by desperation, collaboration, love and land. Trust becomes the means of weaving, weaving the means of hoping. Line after line strikes fire from the darkness, and proves poetry here to be "the Halo on the page.” - Review from author Robert Macfarlane.

This book is available to read within the Bellwethers gallery space at Abbot Hall, but is also on sale in our shop if you would like to purchase one yourself.

Abbot Hall is open Wed - Sat, 10 - 4.

18/05/2026

What music might Lady Anne Clifford have listened to?

On Saturday 6 June, Abbot Hall will be filled with the sounds of lute, viols, recorder, renaissance flute, and voice as A Picture in Music and Words brings Lady Anne’s world to life through live performance!

Inspired by The Great Picture seen in our gallery, Lady Anne’s diaries, and music from the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, this special concert blends storytelling and historically inspired performance in the galleries themselves.

Featuring acclaimed lutenist Richard MacKenzie and tenor Dr Andrew Fowler of Durham Cathedral Choir.

Book your tickets now using the following link: https://lakelandarts.org.uk/events/lady-anne-clifford-a-picture-in-words-and-music/

Photo: Robin Zahler

16/05/2026

A week to go until our May Half Term activities begin!

From Saturday 23 to Saturday 30 May you can:

🖼️ Draw a Self-Portrait
Free in the Creative space

🐈‍⬛ Explore Sully the Cat’s Art Trail
Included with gallery admission

🏡 Join a What is Home? Facilitated Workshop
£5 per family | Thursday 28 May
Sessions at 10.30 - 11.30am and 2 - 3pm

Celebrate spring at Abbot Hall with creative, family-friendly activities running throughout the Easter holidays. From hands-on crafts to gallery

14/05/2026

A taste of what you can experience this Saturday 🎶

Join Kendal’s Pro Nobis choir and composer Jack McNeill for an afternoon of singing the stories and poems created by our community.

Saturday 16 May, 2–4pm at Abbot Hall.

Book your ticket using the link in our bio!

14/05/2026

A taste of what you can experience this Saturday 🎶

Join Kendal’s Pro Nobis choir and composer Jack McNeill for an afternoon of singing the stories and poems created by our community.

Saturday 16 May, 2–4pm at Abbot Hall.

Book your ticket using the link below.
https://lakelandarts.org.uk/events/bellwethers-choir-workshop/

13/05/2026

Will Cooper, our Senior Curator at Lakeland Arts, talks us through the meaning and importance behind “Familial Traces”, our latest Abbot Hall exhibition.

If you want to learn more about Familial Traces, Joshua Donkor and Lela Harris, you can read exhibition review and interview with the artists! Link in our bio.

11/05/2026

Have you booked your space for our Bellwethers Choir Workshop this Saturday 16 May?

Join us to learn songs based on poems from the Bellwethers project, where they’ll be performed by Kendal’s Pro Nobis choir, composer Jack McNeill, and you! 🎶

Bellwethers is a powerful multi-media exhibition sharing stories of fragility, survival and resilience from people in and around Barrow and Kendal. The exhibition explores homelessness, recovery, community and the connections between social and ecological injustice.

Book your tickets here (£5 per person): https://tickets1.lakelandarts.org.uk/

Photography: George Carr Media