The World of Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter spent many holidays in the Lake District. In 1905 she used some of the income from her children’s books and a legacy from an aunt to purchase a traditional Lakeland farm in Sawrey called Hill Top. She arranged for an extension to be built on the house so that the farm manager, John Cannon, could continue to live there with his family and run the farm, with its pigs, cows, sheep, ducks and hens.
Although Beatrix was still living at home in London with her parents she spent as much time as she could visiting her new home. She organised renovations to the farmhouse, created a beautiful English cottage garden and used Hill Top as the background material for the illustrations in her books.
Beatrix Potter, best known for her story of Peter Rabbit, was a biologist, mycologist, illustrator, writer and conservationist. In her later life she became a farmer and champion of Herdwick Sheep.
Explore Beatrix’s Lake District on a tour designed to reveal her life, her illustrated stories for young people and to delve into the large body of remarkable scientific illustrations of fossils, archaeological finds, mosses, lichens, wild flowers, microscope drawings and fungi.
Your tour can be organised for you by coach, minibus, in your own car or by public transport. Private visits to remarkable places not usually open to the public are possible. Gentle hikes are often included. Locations to visit include:
Hill Top - www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hilltop/
The Beatrix Potter Gallery - www.nationaltrust.org.uk/beatrix-potter-gallery/
The World of Beatrix Potter - www.hop-skip-jump.com
The Armitt Museum and Library - www.armitt.com/
My thanks also for the assistance you gave both myself whilst planning the tour and also to Billy with his planning of the rest of the rest of his week. I shall certainly keep your contact details and be in touch when I’m next planning a tour to the Lakes.
Kindest regards – Fay Skinner, Skinners of Oxted, Surrey
Other Tours
Romantic Walks in Literary Lakeland
Uncovering the 19th Century Arts and Crafts Movement
Searching the Sublime with the 18th Century Tourist
Historic Gardens of the North West
