SY Gondola

The SY Gondola is a Victorian steam yacht launched in 1859 that carries passengers up and down Coniston Water between the village pier and Brantwood. The vessel — elegant, low-slung, with a canopied saloon and polished brass fittings — is operated by the National Trust and runs from spring to autumn. A round trip takes about an hour.

Taking the Gondola to Brantwood combines two of Coniston's best experiences into one trip: the steam-powered crossing across the lake, and then the house and gardens at the other end. This is the most pleasant way to reach Brantwood and the one that most closely follows what nineteenth-century visitors, including Ruskin himself, would have experienced.

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A story
The Gondola was launched in 1859, making her one of the oldest steam-powered vessels in the world still in regular service. She sank in a storm in 1963 and lay on the bed of Coniston Water for seventeen years before the National Trust raised and restored her. Ruskin was a regular passenger on her first incarnation; he wrote about seeing her from Brantwood and described the sound of her engine as "the softest and sweetest imaginable."