I absolutely love stationery and a few weeks ago I visited the Pencil Museum in Keswick. I heard about it when I watched the TV programme with Ralf Little and Ricky Tomlinson where they toured the North of England in a motorhome.
It is definitely not the biggest of museums, in fact I would say it is the smallest one I have been to. It was however, surprisingly the most interesting. I learnt how the phrase 'black market' came about (when graphite used to be stolen from mines and sold illegally) and also the real life person who inspired the character 'Q' in the James Bond films. There was also some miniscule carvings on pencils and the world's largest pencil. Even Craig who only came along to keep me happy enjoyed it.
The Pencil Museum is definitely worth a visit if you are in Keswick and it pretty reasonable in terms of admission costs (plus you do get a free pencil as well:) ) Keswick itself is also very nice to walk around, even on a wet miserable day, and there are plenty of places to eat and drink.
