Barrow-in Furness has a huge range of things to do in the local area including hiking, golf, beaches, museums and sport. Below we’ve listed our favourites.
A Hiker’s Paradise
Barrow-in-Furness is perfectly located to access a huge number of national parks and areas of natural beauty. You can get to the southern part of Lake District in 30 minutes, the Yorkshire Dales in just over an hour and if you want to go further afield you can get to the Forest of Bowland and the North Pennines easily.
This makes Barrow a perfect spot to stay if you want to spend a holiday hiking with family and friends. You could stay the whole week in Barrow and hike a different part of the district every single day. And still have plenty to do when the day is over.
Beautiful Beaches
Barrow sits on a scenic piece of land that juts out into the Irish Sea. Surrounded by water on three sides means that Barrow has a number of beaches that you can get to easily from the town centre. If you are up for a walk you can get to Biggar Bank Beach in 50 minutes from the town centre. Biggar Bank Beach is a long shingle and pebble beach and on sunny days you’ll even find an ice cream van! Also along the coast (within a long walk from the town centre) are Sandy Gap Beach and Walney Island Beach. There is no shortage of beaches along this coastline and so you’ll be spoilt for choice for a long walk or to soak in the rays on a sunny day.
Golf All Day
Furness Golf Club is the third oldest links golf course and the sixth oldest course in England and is proud of it. It’s an England Golf championship venue and is a challenging course for experienced golfers. You also have easy access to Barrow Golf Club, Dunnerholme Golf Club and Ulverston Golf Club. You could stay in Barrow-in-Furness and do day trips to each golf course. You could even play 36 holes in a day across two of the courses as the drive between courses is less than 20 minutes.
The Dock Museum
You might come to Barrow for the golf but then stay for the history. The Dock Museum charts Barrow-in-Furness’ history as a key maritime shipbuilder. In the 1860s Barrow was the most productive steel and iron works in the world and so their investors wanted to leverage this expertise. They had already built the Barrow-in-Furness railway and so decided to take these skills and set up an iron and steel shipbuilding factory. The Barrow shipyard was known for its innovative approach to shipbuilding and even made gunboats for the Royal Navy. Tour the Dock Museum to see the fascinating history of this town.
Thriving Industry
Barrow-in-Furness has a thriving history of industry in the area as you can see at the Dock Museum. But their industry is not in the past – it is still alive and well today. In the city centre, you can find BAE systems who are making submarines for the defence industry, the Orsted wind farm and the Furness General Hospital. There’s still plenty going on today to make a stay in Barrow worth it.
Barrow AFC
Barrow AFC are in league 2 and are known as the Bluebirds to home fans. They play in Holker street to a crowd of over 5,000 loyal fans. Check out their website to see who they are playing this week and get yourself some tickets if you are in the area.
