At the heart of one of the most popular and picturesque small towns lies a building bursting with Lakeland knowledge.

The Armitt museum in Ambleside packs a punch when it comes to telling the story of the people, history and heritage of the Lake District

The museum is housed in an extension of the old stable block of Scale How.

The estate was home and workplace to Charlotte Mason who championed the education of young women and learning through the natural world.

Her archive is now part of The Armitt collection, one of the museum’s key events this year celebrates the centenary of her life and legacy.

The exhibition “Learning Through the Natural World” answers what education was like in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and how Miss Mason established new ideas.

The Armitt is home to over 9,000 items of material relating to Charlotte Mason including correspondence with friends and peers and nature notebooks.

There are also photographs showing how students lived and studied at the House of Education in Ambleside in 1892. 

The Armitt is being highlighted by the Culture in South Lakes project, which received £92,294 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is being administered by Westmorland and Furness Council.

The museum’s “Beatrix Potter: Passions in Paint” exhibition reveals the lesser-known side of the famous author of the Peter Rabbit books.

From a young age the author had a remarkable artistic instinct and sharp attention to detail.

You can view artworks from her early adulthood which capture the essence of what she was drawing and show what she was passionate about in her own life – Mycology (the study of fungi), archaeology and natural history.

The Armitt Talks continues through May with The Tucker Family – Lake District Artists, a Cyanotype printing workshop with Chris Routledge and a book signing of the new “Hardwick Drummond Rawnsley: An Extraordinary Life 1851-1920” with author Rosalind Rawnsley. 

There’s also a Family Workshop: Nature as Teacher with Leah Boden and Lynn Seddon.

For more information visit: www.armitt.com

Or for more inspiration on arts, culture and heritage in South Lakes go to: www.visitlakedistrict.com/cultureinsouthlakes