Furness Abbey

Furness Abbey is a ruined abbey in South Cumbria, just outside Barrow in Furness. In its heyday it used to be the home of the Cistercian monks.

Location
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The abbey can be found on the A590, approximately 30 minutes drive from the M6 and there’s a small car park outside the visitors centre. There’s a regular bus service (6A) which passes within a 10 minute walk of the abbey entrance, and this bus can be caught from the nearest bus stop to the railway station in Barrow. There’s a less frequent service from Dalton in Furness and other towns along the A590.

Opening Times
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Easter to Summer 10am-5pm 5 Days a Week (closed Tuesday and Wednesday).
Summer to Autumn 10am-5pm 7 Days a Week.
Late Autumn 10am-5pm 5 Days a Week (closed Tuesday and Wednesday).
Autumn to Easter 10am-4pm Sat, & Sun.

Admission Costs
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Adult: £3.50
Children: £1.80
Concession: £3.00
English Heritage Members: Free.

The Abbey
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The Abbey was built in 1123. It was given to the Cistercian monks in 1147, and was once the second richest Cistercian abbey in England, after Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire.

It was built entirely from sandstone which was sourced from the local area, and many parts of the abbey are well persevered and stand majestically in place. It’s not hard to imagine how the site would have looked when it was complete.

The monks of the abbey were highly influential in the area, and their influence spread as far as the Isle of Man, which can be found off the coast of Barrow in Furness, in the Irish Sea. One of the Kings of Man is buried within the grounds of the abbey.

The abbey stood proud until Henry VIII took umbrage with the Pope and decided to destroy the Catholic Church and all its followers. The local story tells of how Henry’s soldiers missed the abbey because it is hidden from view in the Vale of Nightshade, but one poor monk rang the bell to sound the all clear far too early, and alerted the soldiers to its presence. The abbey and the monks were destroyed, and the ruins left for future generations to walk around.

Obviously being an abbey, there are no end of ghost stories, ranging from the sightings of mad monks, to white ladies. One of the tracks leading from the abbey is known locally as Lady’s Walk due to the sightings.


The abbey has had a few famous visitors; the most famous for locals is of course William Wordsworth, the Lakeland poet, famous for his Daffodils poem. He referred to the abbey in one of his later poems, The Prelude. The abbey was also visited by the Roosevelt family, where Teddy Roosevelt was seen running around the abbey grounds with his siblings.


You can use the audio guide when wandering around the grounds, which will give details of the various buildings which are still fairly whole (the chapel, the North and South Transept, the Chapter House and Dormitory). It also details where other buildings would have stood and how well developed the drainage and water ways were for the time.

Visitors Centre
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The visitors centre is small, but has a lot of information dotted around. It doubles as the shop, but the selection of items available is very small and expensive.
In the visitors centre you’ll find sconces and pieces of architecture and grave slabs that originally came from the abbey, but have been brought inside to avoid damage.

Facilities and Accessibility
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Wheelchairs users have full access to the visitors centre and to the abbey grounds. However, there are lots of slopes and no pathways around the grounds, so some people may need assistance.

For visually impaired visitors the audio guide is included in the ticket price, and for audio impaired visitors an audio tour with hearing loop is included in the price, and they also have the audio tour scripted if required.

Dogs are allowed in the grounds, although they must be kept on a lead, and obviously any mess must be cleared up.

There is a small selection of snacks, and people are welcome to bring picnics into the abbey grounds. Within a couple of minutes walk, you’ll find the Abbey Tavern which is a local pub that sells beer and meals.

My Thoughts
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Furness Abbey is a lovely abbey to visit, and because is fairly well preserved in parts, it makes it much easier to imagine how the area would have looked back in the 12th Century, and how life might have been for the monks.

The way the abbey is situated you will be driving up and thinking ‘where on earth is it?’ Then suddenly it’s right in front of you, it’s not hard to imagine that the local story about the soldiers missing is first time around could be true. After all, way back then there would have been no clear roads and the abbey would have been completely surrounded by trees.

As it is, once you get close, you might wonder if it’s worth paying the entrance fee, because you can see all of the grounds from the road. But you can’t get a proper feel for the place from the roadside, nor can you find out which bits are which, and what would have been happening in different areas of the abbey.

Although there’s a road running around the outside of the grounds, it’s not a busy road, so the whole area feels very tranquil (until the kids start yelling !!). It’s a great place to have a picnic, because there are plenty of open areas, and having the abbey as a backdrop is beautiful. During the spring, the area is surrounded by daffodils, and they look absolutely wonderful.

Along the side of the abbey there are a few walks that are very popular with dog walkers, and you can see some of the remains of out buildings that the monks once used on these walks.

Straight across the road from the abbey there’s a natural amphitheatre, now I don’t have good memories of this amphitheatre because it used to be part of our school’s cross country run! But this is also a great area to walk your dog, depending on the time of year you might have to have the dog on a lead due to sheep or cows being loose.

If you’re not picnicking or walking dogs, it probably won’t take more than a morning or an afternoon to visit the abbey. In fact it’s more likely to take 2 hours at most (presuming you stop to look closely at things), but it’s well worth a visit.

South Lakes Wild Animal Park

South Lakes Wild Animal Park is about 10 minutes away from us, so we visit at least twice a year, and we are never bored. It’s not so much a zoo as an animal experience.

How to get there

The zoo is in Dalton in Furness, a small town in South Cumbria. It’s about 30 minutes from the M6 motorway along the A590, or you can get there by train or bus. If you’re using public transport you’ll have a 10-15 minute walk from the nearest bus stop and a 20-30 minute walk from the train station. There’s a free car park, unfortunately this isn’t the biggest car park in the world and gets full rather quickly. There is an overflow car park and staff will be out to direct traffic is necessary, the over flow car park is a couple of minutes walk from the zoo entrance.

Admission Information
Adult: £11.50
Child 3-15: £8.00
OAP: £8.00
Under3's: FREE
Friend of the Park: £1.50

Opening Times

4th April 2009 - 1st November 2009
10am - 5.00pm
Last admission 4.15pm



The park is fairly unique in that many of the animals are free roaming, or are allowed to roam within their own areas in amongst the visitors. The free roaming animals are found in the Australasia section of the park, with lemurs, kangaroos, emus, etc. Food can be purchased at 50p a bag to feed the emus and the ducks. The lemurs are the only animals in that section that cannot be fed or stroked by visitors. The lemurs are the funniest animals in the zoo, they pretty much go wherever they choose, and are not afraid of people at all but they can bite, which is the reason you’re not allowed to feed them. Being approached by an emu can be a little scary at first, but they are quite gentle when taking the food from your hand.

Also in that section there is a large walk in aviary, with parrot and vultures, visitors can watch the vultures being fed daily. This bit is only open to walkthrough when the keeper is there, if you go early in the morning you might find that the keepers are all busy elsewhere, in which case you can view the birds from outside the aviary.

Another great feature of the park is the high walk ways. These allow visitors to see the animals from above, and in the case of the tigers on their climbing frame, the visitors can see them on the same level with no bars to spoil the view.

The owner of the park also began the Sumatran Tiger Trust, so every day there is a talk on the work of the trust just before the tiger feeding. The zoo is quite proud of the way in which the tigers and lions are fed. It is unique in that the meat is attached to 6 metre poles and the cats have to climb for their food. This stops the cats becoming overweight because they actually have to work for their food. During the summer the walkways can get very crowded because everyone wants to see the cats climbing, so you’d be just as well to get to the walkway early and hang around for a while. It might seem a bit boring, but the wait is worth it, to see the power in the animals.

The park is great for kids, as well as being able to feed the emus, ducks etc, they are able to join in with the lemur feeding under the supervision of the park staff. They can also help to feed the penguins and giraffes. They also have a ‘Meet the Snake’ time, where visitors can see a snake close up, and have the opportunity to stroke one.

Food

There are indoor and outdoor tables for taking picnics, and there’s also a restaurant on the site. They serve a limited range of hot foods, but they’re all of good quality, and they have a selection of cold snacks.
Beware though, there are no lockers in the zoo, so you’ll either have to carry your picnic around, or you will have to leave it in the car until you are ready to eat.

Accessibility

The zoo is fully accessible for the disabled. There are very few steps on the walkways, and where there are a couple of steps they have a ramp beside them. The elevated walkways are all accessed by walking up ramps.

It might not be the biggest zoo in the world, but I think it is the best thought out and the owner is interested in the conservation of animals not just creating a tourist attraction.

Barrow in Furness

Barrow in Furness, as soon as I say those words 99 times out of 100 the reply will be 'where’s that?’ Except when you're speak to people from Barrow that is. I thought I'd write this little guide in case anyone was coming to the area, especially as we have cruise ships arriving at the docks now, so more and more tourists are finding us.

~Where is it?~

Barrow in Furness (or Barra as it's known) is in South Cumbria within the Furness peninsula. Still no idea? Well the easiest way to describe it is, just south of the Lake District or not too far north of Blackpool.

The A590 takes you from the M6 and straight to Barrow and is nicknamed the world's largest cul-de-sac, because it comes into Barrow then the only thing to do is turn around and go back out again.

~About the Town~

Barrow is an average sized town, with a population of around 60,000. Originally part of Lancashire, it’s now part of Cumbria.

The town was built up around the shipyard; most of the original housing was built to house the workers. The shipyard however is now past its heyday and most of the engineering work and factories have closed or down sized dramatically, so the main employers are now the local Health Authority and retailers.

~Local Points of Interest~

*Shops*

Barrow is not known for its shopping, most of the shops are confined to two streets, with the highlight being Debenhams. Other national retailers include, Gamestation, Jessops, M & S, and Body Shop. But the majority of the main shopping street is made up of charity shops or banks, with many of the shops at the present time being empty.

There is also a small out of town Retail Park, which houses the likes of Next, Comet, Currys and Tesco Extra.

As well as Tesco, other supermarkets include Asda, Morrisons and 6 branches of the Co-op.

*Pubs and Clubs*

Barrow has the same variety of pubs as the majority of towns in the country. There are the usual drinker’s pubs, and the food lover’s pubs, plus one pub with a 'Fuzzy Ed's' attached for children to play.

Along Cornwallis Street (also known as The Gaza Strip) are Barrow's nightclubs. There are 6 clubs which all open until the early hours of the morning. In addition to these clubs there is also the Princess Selandia, a floating nightclub and restaurant.

*Food*

There are cafes and restaurants a plenty in Barrow. There are Chinese, Indian, Italian, Thai and English restaurants. Take aways selling Chinese, Indian, Pizza, Kebabs, Baked Potatoes, Fish and Chips. Then of course there are McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway, and plenty of small local cafes in the town centre.

*Tourist Attractions*

Barrow only has one real tourist attraction to call its own, Furness Abbey. A 12th century ruined abbey, once belonging to the Cistercian monks, now it’s part of English Heritage.

There is also the Dock Museum, a small museum dedicated to all things maritime, and celebrating Barrow's links with the sea, and telling the history of shipbuilding in Barrow.

Just outside of Barrow, in a town called Dalton in Furness there is the South Lakes Animal Park. In my opinion one of the best zoos in the country. Not only does it have a great selection of animals, but it offers people (and children in particular) the opportunity to interact with many of the animals; Lemurs, emus, penguins and giraffes.

~Other Things To Do In Barrow~

Barrow has a beautiful park at its centre. In the past few years the play area has undergone a transformation with the old roundabouts and swings being removed, and climbing frames, zip slides and an interactive Bop It style play frame installed.

In 2008 the second play area was bulldozed and a concrete skate park was built, which is extremely popular with the skate boarders and stunt bike riders.

Also in the park there's a mini golf course, bowling greens, a greenhouse and a lake with swans and geese. During the summer there is boat rental with rowing boats and pedal boats.

The Park Leisure Centre has also undergone a £1m refit, with improvements to the gym. At weekends it holds a roller disco (there's a blast from the past) and the hall can be booked for children's parties, badminton, table tennis etc. The swimming area has a training pool, and a leisure pool with a wave machine and water slide.

Barrow also boasts two different types of beach. On Walney Island you'll find a stony beach with a small play area for the children and generally an ice cream van in attendance.
At Roanhead there is a beautiful sandy beach with plenty of sand dunes to ensure you can find a nice quiet spot. There is a permanent shop, but it is very small and only sells the bare necessities for the beach. Parking is also at a premium at Roanhead, which means on a sunny day you really need to get there early to get a parking space.

When the weather is bad, and presuming you have children there is always the Custom House. This is split into two zones, the play zone for the very young, which has a soft brick play area, and the laser zone, where older children can have fun shooting at each other with laser guns. There is also a restaurant for the adults.

Of course Barrow is only 20 minutes or so away from the Lake District which offers countless attractions.

~My Thoughts~

I've lived in Barrow for years, interspersed with times away due to work commitments and I can only say, of all the placed I've live Barrow is by far the best.

Okay it’s not the most dynamic place; it's generally a few years behind the rest of the world when it comes to new innovations. But it’s also relatively quiet, there is some trouble on occasion, but what town doesn't? And compared to the big cities you could almost say it’s a trouble free zone.

I am not afraid to let my children play out, and that means more to me than being at the forefront of development.

I think at some points everyone thinks their home town is dull, the council are only in it for themselves, or they wish there was more. But I am happy with Barrow as it is, for me it has everything it needs, anymore and it would spoil the area.

~Anything Famous About Barrow?~


Chewits once described themselves on their advert as 'Even chewier than Barrow in Furness bus depot'.
Emlyn Hughes the England and Liverpool FC footballer was born in Barrow and now has an office block named after him.
Dave Myers, one of the Hairy Bikers is also from Barrow.

I hope that has given you a little insight into Barrow.