The Windermere Jetty Museum replaced the old Steamboat Museum on the same site in 2019, with a purpose-built building designed by Carmody Groarke that steps down to the water's edge in a series of interlocking volumes clad in weathered timber. The architecture has divided opinion locally but it works: the galleries feel connected to the lake rather than just adjacent to it, and the covered wet dock lets you see the boats in the water rather than on stands.
The collection spans about 150 years of Windermere's social and maritime history — steam launches used by Victorian tourists, early motor boats, racing craft, and working vessels. It goes beyond the hardware: the interpretation covers how the railway transformed access to the lake after 1847, the class dynamics of leisure boating, and the environmental pressures that have accumulated since. Allow a couple of hours at least. There is a café with lake views on the upper floor.