Castlegate HouseGallery

Castlegate House Gallery occupies the ground floor of a Grade II*-listed Georgian house dating from 1777, opposite the remains of Cockermouth Castle. The gallery has shown work since 1987 and was bought in June 2012 by Steven and Christine Swallow, who continue to run it as a husband-and-wife team. Their programme specialises in twentieth-century and contemporary British art, with past exhibitions of work by Sheila Fell, Percy Kelly, Winifred Nicholson, Norman Cornish and Grayson Perry, alongside a changing display of studio ceramics that includes Winchcombe and Leach pottery. A walled sculpture garden sits behind the house. The gallery opens Wednesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm, with Monday, Tuesday and Sunday viewings by appointment. Castlegate House remains a single-site, independently owned gallery rather than part of a wider commercial group.