Since we stayed at a National Trust cottage, we were allowed to visit any National Trust property for free. By luck, Beatrix Potter’s house in Hill Top was close to us. It was a good place to visit on a rainy day.
On entering the house, we were greeted by a front-of-house volunteer, who looked Japanese. I said a few words in Japanese, which animated her. We went on to discuss Japan and thereafter exchanged a few words in Japanese whenever we saw each other (the staff regularly move around the house).
You could, of course, buy Beatrix Potter’s books in the gift shop. The only foreign language ones were in Japanese. According to The Guardian review, Japanese people make up about 20% of visitors to the house. They love Beatrix Potter! Apparently, there are signs in Japanese at the nearby Windermere ferry port, which we didn’t see. This explained the presence of the Japanese speaker.
According to the biographical panel:
Hill Top was the beloved farmhouse of children’s author and illustrator Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), best known for ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit” (1902).
Beatrix bought this working farm in 1905, shortly after the death of her fiancé and publisher Norman Warne. Here Beatrix found solace, creating the cottage garden and extending the 17th-century farmhouse. Inside, she arranged antique furniture and family heirlooms, including Lakeland furniture and Staffordshire ceramics.
Over the next eight years, Beatrix’s creativity flourished. She produced 13 books, with Hill Top and the village of Near Sawrey providing the backdrop for characters including Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-duck.
In 1913 Beatrix married local solicitor William Heelis and settled permanently in the Lakes. She dedicated the next 30 years to the conservation of the local landscape, buildings and farming traditions. When Beatrix died, she left Hill Top to the National Trust, along with fourteen farms and over 4,000 acres of land.
On returning to our cottage, we saw that Miss Potter (2006) was available for streaming on the BBC. It starred Renée Zellweger as the writer. The film tells us the story of Beatrix Potter’s love of animals, getting her first publishing deal, meeting her fiancé, and settling in the Lake District. All this was done against the odds, in a man’s world. She competed against property developers who wanted to, in her eyes, ruin the beauty of the Lake District. She used her wealth to buy land they wanted, much to their annoyance!