The two peninsulas of Furness and Cartmel are a worthwhile visit for any tour of the South Lakeland District. They contrast considerably with the more stark and dramatic beauty of the northern lakes in that they are much more rural and gentle in character, and close to the stereotypical image which many foreign visitors have of England at its best.
The Cartmel Peninsular forms part of the far eastern corner of Cumbria, known as South Lakeland, and for the most-part it lies within the National Park, except for its extreme southern tip. It originally formed part of the County of Lancashire before border changes in the 1970s, and was traditionally known as "Lancashire Beyond the Sands", due, no doubt, to its proximity to Lancashire by the sands of the Leven Estuary of Morecambe Bay across which it lies, and can still be accessed when the tide is out.
This oversands route dates back as far in time as the first men inhabited it. This antiquity is reflected in the name : once known by the Celts as "Mare Cymry ", the ancient Cumbrian Sea, from which the name Morecambe derives. These ever shifting sands were first recorded by Tacitus, the emperor Agricola's historian, during the latter's campaign against the Brigantian tribes of Northern Britain.
The Furness Peninsular is the most southerly part of Cumbria and includes Coniston, Hawkshead, Newby Bridge and the southern shores of Lake Windermere, and the Grizedale Forest. The name Furness is translated to mean " the Country of the Far Headland " from the old English "fur" (meaning "far") and "ness" (meaning "promontory" or peninsular). Extensively settled by Vikings, the peninsular abounds in ancient settlements and villages and retains vestiges of its old copper and iron smelting history, practices which survived in Barrow until the mid-20th century in its iron and steel works and shipbuilding.

Cartmel is a charmingly pretty village, easily approached from Junction 36 on the M6 Motorway, along the A591 and A590, well signposted, though the narrow approach lanes are high-hedged and in places require careful driving to avoid oncoming traffic. It lies just 3 miles inland from Grange-over-Sands, and is famed for its Norman priory, a late 12th century monastic church which was fortunate in surviving the dissolution of monasteries ordered under King Henry VIII, and for further damages committed by Parliamentarian forces in the Civil War in the early 17th century.
Little is known of Cartmel's history before the foundation of the Priory. In 1185 the land of Cartmel was granted to William Marshall, later the Earl of Pembroke, and later regent of England. Royal permission was granted for the establishment of a monastery in 1189, under the Order of St Augustine. The original priory encompassed most of the present village, and the Gatehouse Arch, now a National Trust property, some 300 yards away gives an impression of the original size of the Priory. In the Main Square there remains a standing post, the remnant of an earlier cross, and curious stone benches which were used in medieval times to display fish on market days.
It is also renowned for its racecourse. The Priory itself is of cathedral proportions, with a large part still being pure Norman, and other additions later including the large perpendicular Gothic stained glass window over the alter at the eastern end of the building. After the Dissolution of 1537, most of the monastery buildings disappeared, and only the church building remained, though it stood for some 80 years without a roof, as evidenced by the severe wear and weathering on the medieval choir stalls, which, despite this maltreatment, remain superb examples of medieval woodcraft.
The village centre can get very busy at peak holiday times, though there is ample parking through the village on the race course. There are several pub-restaurants in the village offering conventional pub fare, as well as a teashop at the village approach. There is a small, but well-stocked gift and souvenir shop at the race course end of the village, which also sells post-cards, tourist videos and lakeland goods of various kinds.

Ulverston is named in the Domesday Book of 1086 and has a market charter dating back to 1280 and still operates a major cattle market for the region every Thursday, as well as a regular Saturday street market, where traditional local specialities like Cumberland Sausage are still sold, and where the local shops seem to have lost none of the old-worldliness and courtesy of former times.
The town's name probably derives from Ulph, one of its early Viking settlers, of whom many plagued this coastal region after the withdrawal of Roman legions from Britain in the 5th century AD. In some ways a charmingly different town by Lake District standards. First, it is large, and not overly developed for tourism. Second, it is notable for its many back street alleyways (known as "ginnels"), which still abound with shops and studios of traditional artists, craftsmen and women.
"Heritage First!" has now replaced the former Museum & Heritage Centre - Down one of the town's ginnels lies the Laurel & Hardy Museum; Ulverston being the birthplace of Stan Laurel, the Museum commemorates their lives, their work and films, and is open to the public. Unfortunately, the former home of the Classic Bikes Working Museum on Victoria Road is now a vetinary Surgery and the Museum is no more.
The disused Ulverston Canal, built by the engineer John Rennie in 1796, once boasted being "the shortest, widest, deepest and straightest canal in the world". It could carry large vessels of up to 350 tons the mile or so inland to the town, helping make Ulverston a major commercial port in the early 1800s. It carried iron ore, slate, stone, gunpowder and bobbins, amongst other various types of freight, until the opening of the Furness Railway in 1857, after which time its usage declined rapidly - the last boat sailed through in 1916.

Barrrow, once renowned for its great ship building has, in recent years, thrown off its industrial past and readjusted well to the needs of modern tourism. It is the site of one of the most important Cistercian Abbeys in Britain at Furness Abbey, hosts the South Lakeland Wildlife Oasis Park and the Dock Museum which celebrates the history of ship-building in the region.

Websites that may interest you

www.wildanimalpark.co.uk  South  Lakes wild animal park

www.nwemail.co.uk  Local news for Barrow & the south lakes

www.dockmuseum.org.uk/  The dock museum

To veiw photos of thje area why not visit Bill Clarks excelent site

www.southlakes-uk.co.uk