If you walked past the Quaker Tapestry Museum on Stramongate last winter and noticed it was closed, here’s some genuinely good news: it’s reopening, and it’s free.

The museum shut its doors in December after rising running costs outpaced what it was bringing in from visitors and other sources. It was a real blow for Kendal. Just months earlier, in July, the museum had won the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year prize at the Cumbria Tourism Awards — a well-deserved nod to something quietly remarkable sitting in the heart of our town.

But a team of dedicated volunteers from the Kendal Quakers refused to let it go quietly. From Wednesday 6 May, they’ll be opening the museum every Wednesday, 10am to 4pm, through to the end of August — with hopes to keep going beyond that.

And if you’ve never been, this is your moment. The centrepiece is a tapestry unlike anything else: 77 embroidered panels, created by more than 4,000 people from fifteen different countries, telling the history of the Quakers through needle and thread. It’s the kind of thing that takes a moment to sink in when you’re standing in front of it — the sheer scale of collective making, the detail, the stories stitched into every panel.

Entry is completely free. The Quaker Meeting House next door on Stramongate continues to operate as normal — it’s a separate charity and was unaffected by the museum’s closure.

Wednesdays · 10am–4pm · Stramongate, Kendal · Free admission Starting 6 May, running until end of August (and hopefully beyond).