Hill Top

The young Beatrix Potter lived a stifling life in London with her domineering parents; going almost nowhere and meeting virtually nobody. The only bright spot in her life was the annual family holiday.

In her early years the Potters went to houses in Scotland but from 1882, when Beatrix was sixteen, the family began to visit the Lake District. These short breaks fuelled a longing in Beatrix for the country life.

However, it was not until Beatrix was nearly thirty years old that her wonderful series animal fantasies began to take shape and her first book' The Tale of Peter Rabbit' was published. These enchanting works were all illustrated with her own meticulously observed watercolours and sketches.

In the summer of 1896 Beatrix visited Near Sawrey, between Windermere and Esthwaite Water, for the first time. A few years later, at the age of 39, she made the momentous decision to buy Hill Top, a modest Lakeland farmhouse, with views over Near Sawrey to the fells beyond.

The purchase was presented to her parents as simply a good investment. Beatrix found Hill Top, 'as nearly perfect a place as I ever lived in'.

Over the next eight years Beatrix was only able to spend weeks at the 17th century cottage but this represented a time of self-expression and release and it was during this period that she produced her best work.

The cottage with its little windows and creaking stairs is as Beatrix Potter left it. Anyone who has read these nursery classics would recognise Hill Top.

The contents of Hill Top the background material for many of her delicate and sensitive illustrations. The 19th century dresser is found in 'The Tale of Samuel Whiskers' and the grandfather clock with a sun on its face can be seen in 'The Tailor of Gloucester'. The old-fashioned kitchen range, with a boiling black kettle, is seen in many animal burrows.

In one of the tiny upstairs rooms is Peter Rabbit's red spotted handkerchief and in the doll's house is the very food stolen by Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca.