Wednesday 10th October
Beatrix Potter home, Hill Top Farm, “Near Sawrey”, Lakes District
This was yet another fantastically moving National Trust experience. Firstly we visited the Beatrix Potter Museum in Hawkshead, once the office of her solicitor husband and donated by him to the National Trust to show all things Beatrix Potter. On display were the original sketches for her Peter Rabbit book, c1901 along with sketches of the famous tales of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, Jemima Puddleduck and all the characters from the books that we read and re-read to our kids all those years ago.
Then it was on to a village known as “Near Sawrey” to visit Hill Top Farm, the farm she acquired from the sales of her first three books. In the house you can see the desk where she wrote and drew the famous tales and the same kitchen stove, staircase or chimney as drawn in “The Tale of Tom Kitten” or “The Tale of The Pie and the Patty Pan” or other tales. Out the gate and along from the house are familiar scenic places used in many of her books…the letter box, the white gate, the Post Office, the Ginger and Pickles shop. What a talent and what an independent lady.
