First year 'puts observatory on stargazing map'

An observatory's first year of operation has "put it on the map with stargazers", bosses say.

Grizedale Observatory, at Ambleside, Cumbria, opened last May with the aim of giving north-west England a facility to match those elsewhere in the UK.

Along with its every day offering of telescopes and a planetarium, it has staged a dark skies festival and a number of other events.

Executive director Gary Fildes described its setting within a Lake District forest as providing an ideal spot from which to enjoy "the irresistible sight of the Milky Way and galaxies light years away".

Demand has seen opening expanded from four nights each week to six, he says, with a seventh likely to be added shortly.

"The mission was to put Cumbria on the map with stargazers and it has. It's going in the right direction.

"People get an opportunity to connect with the universe. It opens their eyes.

"Being able to come somewhere as beautiful as Grizedale and see stars against the black backdrop is special.

"Last week we had 54 schoolchildren visiting and it was brilliant to see all those curious little minds running around."

Fildes, who helped launch Northumberland's Kielder Observatory in 2008, says plans for Grizedale include the opening of a space memorabilia museum.

"It's about providing an ecosystem of activities around astronomy so things don't just orbit around night-time observations," he explains.

"We've our planitarium, a museum and a meteorite laboratory, so we're providing an all-round experience.

"But we understand the things people want more than anything else are the dark skies so we will continue to champion their importance."

Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.