UK Roadtrip - The Lakes District

3rd October




This morning we headed off towards Kendal to explore the Northern Lakes District. Arriving in Kendal, we strolled the main streets and through the town before setting off to our second stop, Windamere.  Fun Fact: Kendal is where the Author of the Rosie and Jim stories lived. 


When we arrived in Windamere we were a little later than we expected, having set off initially later than we had planned.  We decided to continue onward and we boarded the car ferry across the Windamere Lake to Near Sawrey.  Once aboard the car ferry even as we were crossing, we checked, double-checked and triple-checked the handbrake was on the car... we couldn't afford to loose the car in the lake!

 

At Near Sawrey is the Hilltop Farm, once the home of children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter.  Potter left her home and lands (over 4,000acres at the time of her death) to the National Trust after her death in 1943. It is a Grade II* listed building, meaning that it is classed as a particularly important building of more than special interest. It is open to the public as a writer's house museum, shown as Beatrix Potter herself would have known it, as the National Trust have made every effort to maintain the original fixtures and fastenings as they were left. 

Hilltop Farm

Born into a privileged household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets and spent holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developing a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted.  Though Potter was typical of women of her generation in having limited opportunities for higher education, her study and watercolors of fungi led to her being widely respected in the field of mycology. Beatrix wrote a paper, On the Germination of the Spores of the Agaricineae, and submitted it to the Linnean Society in 1897.  However due to her sex, Potter could not attend proceedings or present her paper to the scientific world.  In 1997, the Linnean Society issued a posthumous apology to Potter for the sexism displayed in its handling of her research.




In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit.  Potter then began writing and illustrating children's books full-time.  With the proceeds from the books and a legacy from an aunt, in 1905 Potter bought Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey, a village in the Lake District, which at that time was in Lancashire. Over the following decades, she purchased additional farms to preserve the unique hill country landscape.




Walking through the small, dark cottage; as there is minimal electric lighting, it is easy to see where Potter took her inspiration from for her pictures and stories.  Helpful pictures point out items within the home which made it into her stories and pictures.  It was surreal to compare the draw images to the real life inspirations, walk around the renowned authors home and sit where she sat to write her stories. 

 

 

 

We continued down the road into the town of Hawkshead which was the local village to Potter's Hilltop Farm home.  Here we visited the Beatrix Potter's Gallery, which is housed within her husband William Heelis' own solicitor's offices.  On display are original sketches and watercolours painted by Potter for her children's stories, as well as artefacts and information relating to her life and work. The display changes annually, this year it was the local Lakes District and the works Beatrix had done of the scenery.

From Hawkshead we continued up the Windamere Lake to Ambleside and wandered the town and main streets, before heading back down to Windamere and Bowness-on-Windermere.


It was here we visited The World of Beatrix Potter attraction.  Here you can discover Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck and all their friends in an indoor recreation of Beatrix Potter's little books, complete with the sights, sounds and smells of the countryside.








The statue depicts three children releasing Potter’s character Jemima Puddle-Duck. It also features characters from all of her 23 tales and a carving of one of her Lakeland homes, as well as the mysterious code she used in her personal diary.

 

Heading home via Penrith we drove along side Ullswater Laker with some more breathtaking scenery. We drove through many more towns, but decided not to stop and wander as it was prettier on the 'goat tracks' along the way.  We finally ended in Penrith where we did some food shopping in Boots for dinner, before heading home to attempt to pack before we set off again tomorrow!