Windermere Jetty Museum showcases 'boats, steam and stories'

The new museum is a cluster of seven buildings, with a number of new jetties

A visitor attraction showcasing "boats, steam and stories" has opened its doors in the Lake District.

The £20m Windermere Jetty Museum replaces an older one which closed more than 10 years ago.

Its seven buildings house vessels dating back 200 years, including the SL Dolly, thought to be the oldest mechanically-powered one in the world.

Others include Beatrix Potter's tarn boat, in which she used to sketch, and a luxurious Victorian steam launch.

Visitors will also get the chance to watch a team of skilled conservation boat builders restore vessels using traditional skills.

There are more than 40 vessels, including record-breaking speedboats from the 1980s

A series of new jetties on the lake allow visitors to sail on the 1902 Osprey, one of the museum's fully-restored Edwardian steam launches and enables the regular lake cruise boats to dock and bring visitors to the museum

Rhian Harris from Lakeland Arts, which runs the museum, described it as "extraordinary".

He said: "[It] connects visitors with the collection, to the lake and with the wider Lake District landscape, telling the incredible stories of those to whom Windermere has been so important."

Architect Carmody Groarke said the design "referenced vernacular Lake District buildings in their characteristic overhanging roof canopies"