Steam Yacht Gondola

Today's the day ............................... to go to Coniston

One of the perks of my job is that I sometimes get to go to meetings in other museums in South Lakeland - and usually that involves spending time in a beautiful building set in beautiful scenery. Today the meeting was in Brantwood the erstwhile home of John Ruskin on the shores of Coniston Water.

And ok - the weather wasn't all that great - so you couldn't see right across to the fells on the other side of the lake. But not many meeting rooms would give you a view like this one out of the window. It's the Gondola - a Victorian steam-powered yacht - first launched in 1859 and now completely rebuilt by the National Trust.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon .............................