Kendal Mountain Festival is taking over Kendal between Thursday 19–Sunday 22 November, celebrating nature, adventure and the great outdoors through films, talks, activities, art and more.
For 4 days, Kendal will become the place to be for outdoor and adventure enthusiasts, with Abbot Hall Park transformed into the festival’s ever-growing Basecamp.
Conveniently located beside Kendal Mountain Festival’s Basecamp, Abbot Hall art gallery offers somewhere to slow down, take shelter from the unpredictable British weather and admire historic and contemporary art.
With exhibitions and displays exploring landscape, nature, place and identity, there are plenty of connections to the themes running throughout the festival.
Here’s how you could fit Abbot Hall into your Kendal Mountain Festival plans.
Abbot Hall at a glance
Open: Friday 20 to Sunday 22 November, 10am to 4pm
Day admission prices: Adults £9 | students £6.50 | children (5 to 15 yrs) £4.50 | under 5s free | Members and Annual Pass holders go free.
Address: Abbot Hall, Kirkland, Kendal, LA9 5AL – beside Kendal Mountain Festival’s Basecamp in Abbot Hall Park
Admission includes access to all current exhibitions, Collection Galleries and hands-on activities at Abbot Hall. Please note that our Andy Goldsworthy and J.M.W. Turner art lectures are ticketed events and require booking separately.
For full event details, booking links and practical information, visit our Kendal Mountain Festival at Abbot Hall page
Andy Goldsworthy’s ‘Slits cut into frozen snow / stormy / strong wind / weather and light rapidly changing, Blencathra (1988)
Friday 20 November
Ease into the festival weekend
Kick off the weekend at Basecamp in Abbot Hall Park before stepping next door to discover a different side of the Lake District.
At 11am, join our Keeper of Collections, Niall Hodson, for a 30-minute Highlights of Abbot Hall art gallery curator tour. Wander through the galleries as Niall introduces selected works from our historic and contemporary collection and shares some of the stories behind the artists who made them.
Already have something in your festival schedule that morning? There’s another tour at 2pm.
If you fancy making something of your own, drop into Make a Patch for your Backpack Workshops between 11.30am–1.30pm. Create an embroidered patch inspired by your latest adventure, or weekend in the Lake District, to take away with you as a memento. The activity is included with gallery admission and is open to adults and children.
Warm up between festival sessions
After a morning outdoors or moving between venues, enjoy a quiet moment in Abbot Hall’s Coffee bar in the Creative space.
Open from 10am–3pm, the Coffee bar serves light lunch options, hot and cold drinks, cakes and traybakes. Pick up one of our creative books while you pause, or, if you’re visiting as a family, younger visitors can explore the self-led play activities in the Creative space.
Then, as the afternoon draws in, turn your attention back to the festivities on offer.
Andy Goldsworthy: Sculpting the Landscape art lecture
At 4.30pm, Tor Scott, Assistant Curator at National Galleries Scotland, explores the work of one of Britain’s most influential environmental land artists in Andy Goldsworthy: Sculpting the Landscape.
Goldsworthy has spent more than five decades working directly with nature. During the festival weekend, his photography series titled Slits cut into frozen snow / stormy / strong wind / weather and light rapidly changing, Blencathra (1988) will also be on display at Abbot Hall.
See his response to one of Cumbria’s most recognisable mountains in the gallery before hearing more about the ideas, materials and landscapes behind his wider practice.
Spaces for the talk are limited, so advance booking is recommended.
JMW Turner, The Passage of Mount St Gotthard from the centre of Teufels Broch © Lakeland Arts.
Saturday 21 November
Trade the crowds for the galleries
Saturday is one of the busiest days of Kendal Mountain Festival. If you find yourself needing a change of pace between sessions, step through the doors of Abbot Hall for some quiet time surrounded by nature-inspired art.
At 2pm, Keeper of Collections Niall Hodson returns for another Highlights of Abbot Hall art gallery curator tour, introducing selected works and some of the stories behind the collection.
Or simply wander at your own pace.
If a weekend immersed in mountains and landscape has left you wanting more, perhaps you’ll appreciate Flowing from the Fells. This exhibition turns its attention to the rivers and streams running through our landscape, bringing together works from the Lakeland Arts collection with a newly commissioned artwork by Jessica Warboys.
In other galleries, you’re invited to step into the multi-disciplinary installation in the Russell Mills: Darkness Visible exhibition, discover Cumbria’s wildlife and changing environment in the Ecology Gallery, or explore stories connected to Kendal and the wider region through our Collection Galleries.
Uncover the adventure that inspired J.M.W Turner
At 4.30pm, join Dr Amy Concannon, Manton Senior Curator of Historic British Art at Tate Britain, for Chasing the Sublime: J.M.W. Turner and the Majesty of the Mountains.
At the heart of the talk is Turner’s dramatic watercolour The Passage of Mount St Gothard from the Centre of Teufels Broch (Devil’s Bridge).
Follow Turner from the rain-swept fells of Cumbria to the glaciers and precipitous mountain passes of the Alps, discovering how these journeys helped shape his fascination with the Sublime – that heady combination of awe, beauty, danger and scale.
The Turner watercolour itself will be on display at Abbot Hall for a limited time during Kendal Mountain Festival, so leave enough time before the talk to see it for yourself.
Kurt Schwitters, Mr Routledge, 1945 © DACS 2018. Photograph Lakeland Arts Trust.
Sunday 22 November
Follow Kurt Schwitters through the Lake District
Sunday offers an opportunity to explore one of the more unexpected artistic stories connected to the Lake District.
At 1.30pm, author Jennifer Potter will present Looking for Mr Schwitters: A Lake District Journey into the Life, Art and Legacy of Kurt Schwitters at Kendal Parish Church, exploring the extraordinary final chapter of the artist’s life in Cumbria.
You can add another layer to the story at Abbot Hall.
Join Niall Hodson, Keeper of Collections, for a special Kurt Schwitters at Abbot Hall curator tour at 11am or 3pm.
Discover Schwitters’ time in the Lake District and take a closer look at selected works from the Abbot Hall collection, including paintings made during his time as an internee during the Second World War.
Spaces on the curator tours are limited, so advance booking is recommended.
Sunday is also your last chance to have a go at our Make a Patch for your Backpack activity between 11.30am–1.30pm.
Curatorial Tours with Niall Hodson, Lakeland Arts' Keeper of Collections.
If you only have an hour
Got an hour to fill between two festival events? You can still experience plenty of Abbot Hall in an hour.
We recommend:
See Turner and Goldsworthy. Catch two works with strong connections to mountains and landscape while they are temporarily on display.
Step into Russell Mills: Darkness Visible. Spend a few moments immersed in its constantly evolving combination of film and sound.
Follow the landscape. Explore Flowing from the Fells or the Ecology Gallery for different perspectives on Cumbria’s rivers, landscape and natural environment.
Hear the stories behind the art. If the timings work, join one of our 30-minute curator tours.
Or forget the itinerary altogether. Find a work that catches your eye, slow down and stay with it for a while before heading back out into the festival.
Visiting with children?
Follow Sully the Cat’s Art Trail through the galleries and see what you can discover together, or make your own embroidered souvenir during our Make a Patch for your Backpack activity from 11.30am–1.30pm each day.
Both are included with gallery admission.
View of Abbot Hall's exterior.
Getting to Abbot Hall during Kendal Mountain Festival
Abbot Hall is located on Kirkland, beside Abbot Hall Park and Kendal Mountain Festival Basecamp.
Kendal’s festival venues are within walking distance of one another, making it easy to include the gallery between other events. The nearest bus stop is on Kirkland, around a five-minute walk from Abbot Hall.
Please note that Abbot Hall’s car park will be closed from Monday 9–Friday 27 November to facilitate Kendal Mountain Festival.
Alternative parking may be available at Peppercorn Car Park and Parish Church Car Park. Kendal is expected to be particularly busy during the festival, so we recommend travelling by public transport or car sharing where possible.
Day ticket or Annual Pass?
As part of our Kendal Mountain Festival offer, discounted day admission is available as well as our standard Annual Pass ticket.
Adults £9 | Students £6.50 | Children aged 5–15 £4.50 | Under 5s free
If one visit isn’t enough, you can upgrade to an Abbot Hall Annual Pass on the day and enjoy unlimited visits for 12 months from the date of your first visit.
Lakeland Arts Members and existing Abbot Hall Annual Pass holders receive free gallery admission.
Please note that the Andy Goldsworthy and J.M.W. Turner art lectures are ticketed separately.
Make Abbot Hall part of your festival weekend
Whether you have an hour to fill before your next session, want to see how artists have translated their encounters with the natural world through art, or you are looking for somewhere to reflect on your day, Abbot Hall is the perfect place to be.
Whatever brings you through our doors, we hope you’ll make Abbot Hall part of your Kendal Mountain Festival weekend.
