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The railway line winds westwards from Cartmel to ULVERSTON , a close-knit market town, which formerly prospered on the cotton, tanning and iron-ore industries. It's an attractive place, enhanced by its dappled grey limestone cottages and a jumble of cobbled alleys and traditional shops zigzagging off the central Market Place . Stalls are still set up here and in the surrounding streets every Thursday and Saturday; on other days (not Wed) the market hall on New Market Street is the centre of commercial life. Ulverston's most famous son is Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson), the whimpering, head-scratching half of the comic duo who are celebrated in a mind-boggling collection of memorabilia at the Laurel and Hardy Museum up an alley at 4c Upper Brook St (Feb-Dec daily 10am-4.30pm; GBP2), near Market Place. Across King Street, in Lower Brook Street, Ulverston's Heritage Centre (Mon, Tues & Thurs-Sat 9.30am-4.30pm; GBP2) is housed in a former eighteenth-century spice warehouse and gives a good overview of the town's history and its various industrial achievements. It's also worth checking to see what's on at the Lanternhouse , on The Ellery (exhibitions, when on, Wed-Sat 11am-4pm; free; ), just off the A590, at the bottom of Market Street and across Tank Square (a traffic roundabout). A group of multimedia artists known as Welfare State International occupy this award-winning conversion of an old school. Ulverston train station is only a few minutes' walk from the town centre - head down Prince's Street and turn right at the main road for County Square. Buses arrive on nearby Victoria Road from Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands, Barrow, Coniston, Bowness, Windermere and Kendal. The tourist office is in Coronation Hall on County Square (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; tel 01229/587120). Bike rental is from Gill Cycles, on The Gill (tel 01229/581116). Pick of the B&Bs is Dyker Bank , 2 Springfield Rd, a Georgian house very near the station (tel 01229/582423; no credit cards; GBP40-50). There's also a great Walker's Hostel on Oubas Hill (tel 01229/585588; no credit cards; under GBP40), on the A590 near Canal Head, at the foot of the Hoad Monument. Cafes include the funky Hot Mango , 27 King St, while most of the pubs serve food, too, best at the Farmer's Arms in Market Place, which has some outdoor tables.
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