A small, slightly bonkers museum next to the old Cumberland Pencil Company factory. The exhibits cover the discovery of Borrowdale graphite, the cottage industry of the 17th century, the secret wartime pencils, and the world's longest pencil — 7.91 metres of laminated pencil that fills its own glass case.
Allow an hour. The shop, inevitably, is full of pencils, including the soft-graphite Derwent ranges that artists actually use. Useful on a rainy afternoon, and an easy stop for families.