Lawson Park

A major RIBA Award-winning refurbishment by architects Sutherland Hussey in 2007/8/9 saw the farm transformed into an artists' residency and office base for Grizedale Arts.

Circa 15 acres (61,000 m2) of land around Lawson Park is being returned to productive use as a smallholding, and the extensive gardens, designed by artist & film-maker Karen Guthrie, are open to the public regularly.

The farm was first recorded under the ownership of the Cistercian Furness Abbey (Barrow-in-Furness) in the 13th century, when it was used as a base for charcoal-burning.

After deforestation of the surrounding land in the late medieval period, the farm was used by a succession of tenant sheep-farmers.

In the late 19th century Victorian polymath John Ruskin - who lived in nearby Brantwood - purchased the farmhouse and land.