Campbell Bluebird pavilion
A full-size replica of the K7 in which Donald Campbell died in 1967, beside the 1935 Blue Bird car, the K4 boat and Campbell's own Land Rover.
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In a separate building on the bank of the River Leven sits a blue boat roughly eight metres long: a full-size replica of Bluebird K7, the jet hydroplane in which Donald Campbell was killed on Coniston Water in January 1967 while chasing 300 mph. The replica was built for a 1988 television film in which Anthony Hopkins played Campbell, and around it the museum tells the story of father and son, Sir Malcolm and Donald, who between them took 21 world land and water speed records, with full-size copies of the 1935 Blue Bird car and the 1939 K4 boat alongside, and the 1954 Land Rover Campbell actually owned. This pavilion is the strongest thing here, and the most affecting if you know how the story ends. The main museum occupies a former dye works that once made the 'blue' used to whiten laundry, hence the name Old Blue Mill. Inside are more than 30,000 objects on two floors linked by a lift: over 150 classic cars and motorcycles, from the tiny Peel P50 and an amphibious 1966 Amphicar to a 1938 Cadillac Fleetwood limousine and a 1927 Dennis fire engine, plus bicycles, more than fifty pedal cars and a corner devoted to the Isle of Man TT. But the real character is in the detail: early-twentieth-century shops and a garage rebuilt with their tins, enamel signs and petrol pumps, and a hoard of motoring ephemera the museum claims is the largest in Britain. A car lover will happily spend two hours; anyone else drifts through in thirty minutes. It stands in the village of Backbarrow on the A590, about two kilometres down the River Leven from Newby Bridge at the foot of Windermere, so roughly a 20-minute drive from Bowness via the A592 and about the same from junction 36 of the M6. The car park is large and free, and Stagecoach's 6/X6 between Kendal and Barrow stops in Backbarrow, a few minutes' walk from the door. The museum belongs to the company that runs Windermere Lake Cruises, which is why a combined Yellow Cruise and museum ticket is sold at £28.50 per adult, and the Lakeside pier, with its steam railway terminus and the aquarium two miles on, is a few minutes away by car. Entry is £13.25 for adults, £7.90 for children aged 5-15 and £36 for a family of two adults and three children, with under-fives free, and booking online costs no less than paying at the door; no advance booking is needed. Open daily 09:30-17:30, last entry 16:30, closing only on Christmas Day and for five days in mid-January. Café Ambio on the riverside does light meals, and the whole site is easy with pushchairs and wheelchairs. The honest verdict: this is the best rainy-day refuge in the southern Lakes, a good fit for Gulf families with car enthusiasts among them, and children get a quiz sheet and pedal cars to keep them busy. But it does not justify a special drive from Keswick or Ambleside if nobody in the party cares about engines; fold it into a day you are already spending around Newby Bridge and Lakeside.
A full-size replica of the K7 in which Donald Campbell died in 1967, beside the 1935 Blue Bird car, the K4 boat and Campbell's own Land Rover.
Early-1900s shops and a garage rebuilt with their signs and pumps, among more than 30,000 objects.
Run by Windermere Lake Cruises, so the Yellow Cruise plus museum at £28.50 beats buying the two separately.
Old Blue Mill, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria LA12 8TA
For an hour, yes, especially on a wet day: there is a quiz sheet, pedal cars and old shop fronts that catch small children, and the aisles take pushchairs easily. Do not plan it as the whole day, though; pair it with the steam railway at Haverthwaite or the aquarium at Lakeside, both minutes away.
If you were going to take the boat from Lakeside anyway, yes: the Yellow Cruise plus museum at £28.50 per adult undercuts the two tickets bought apart. If you are arriving by car with no plan to sail, just pay £13.25 for the museum and do not bolt a cruise onto your day for the sake of a saving.
