The Quaker Tapestry Museum is delighted to announce winning Cumbria Tourism’s Small Visitor Attraction of the Year award (sponsored by Lake District National Park)
The highly anticipated Cumbria Tourism Awards took place on Tuesday 8th July, at the Castle Green Hotel in Kendal. 260 of the county’s leading businesses, individuals and their supporters gathered to celebrate their outstanding achievements. The winners of 18 awards were announced in the glittering ceremony hosted by inspirational speaker and record-breaking mountaineer Nigel Vardy, also known as Mr Frostbite.
Quaker Tapestry Museum was shortlisted alongside The Ruskin Museum, Coniston and Mirehouse & Gardens, Keswick in the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year category.
The awards are a countywide celebration of the hard work, dedication and creativity of those businesses and individuals who are delivering exceptional experiences for visitors. Quaker Tapestry Museum was recognised, following a robust judging process, for leaving visitors with lasting memories and excelling in customer service.
As the winner of the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year award category, Quaker Tapestry Museum will now go on to represent Cumbria in the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence in 2026.
Paul Gibbons, General Manager, said:
“We are all delighted to receive the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year Award, and very proud to be recognised alongside so many fantastic finalists and winners. This award is recognition of the wonderful engagement and important storytelling we do, welcoming visitors of all ages from around the world. The Quaker Tapestry is not only a magnificent work of art, but very much a relevant social history record with stories that resonate with today’s issues of peace, justice and freedom. For a small organisation to win such an award is a privilege and a wonderful opportunity for us to connect with more people to share our work.”
As the UK’s only accredited museum dedicated to Quaker social history, the Quaker Tapestry Museum is permanent home of the Quaker Tapestry, one of the worlds largest community projects. The museum is a beautiful exhibition space, where an extensive needlework collection and archive objects are displayed alongside the tapestry itself. The museum has a programme of special exhibitions, which often includes objects on loan from other organisations, exploring local and national histories of Quakers.
Congratulations on your award for best small museum in the Lake District.
Thank you, staff and volunteers are very happy to have been recognised for all their hard work