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Hawkshead Accommodation
Beatrix Potter - author, artist and interesting characterHawkshead Beatrix Potter Lake District Tourist Information
Hawkshead and the nearby village of Sawrey are where you start your Beatrix Potter pilgrimage!! Potter was rather an interesting character, pushing for independence from an Edwardian context of women firmly in the home. Not quite connecting with that era of suffrage though, but interesting for her challenge aside from this. Her connections with children are fascinating.
She bought Hill Top Farm in 1905, and it is now an extremely popular visitor attraction, so pre-booking recommended to avoid disappointment.
Hawkshead Tourist Information
A literary mecca for both Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth fans, the stunning village of Hawkshead sits in the heart of the Central Lakes in the vale of Estwaite. Hawkshead's roots are as medieval market town and the ruins of medieval Hawkshead Hall and 15th century St Michael's church sit within the town. Beatrix Potter's home Hill Top is located just 3.2km from Hawkshead near Sawrey and the village is surrounded by some of the Lakes most stunning scenery including Grizedale Forest south, Lake Windermere east and Coniston Lake to the west. For more information browse the comprehensive Hawkshead Tourist Information webguide link to the right.
Hawkshead Tourist Information Centre, Main Street, Hawkshead LA22 0NS. Tel. 015394 36946.
The Beatrix Potter Gallery, Hawkshead
For some of the real Beatrix Potter, head for the Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead. Here you'll find a stunning collection of original sketches and watercolours painted by Beatrix Potter, and incorporated into her children's books. The gallery has a broad collection, so what's on display changes frequently. The actual building housing the gallery dates from the 17th century, and is supposed to be the model for Tabitha Twitchit's shop. It also happened to once be the office of her husband, Edwardian lawyer William Heelis. The interior is largely as it was, and in this sense perhaps give more insight and exploration into Beatrix Potter and her life.
The exhibition of original sketches and watercolours painted by Beatrix Potter for her children's stories changes annually. The 17th century building, the model for Tabitha Twitchit's shop, was once the office of Beatrix's husband, William Heelis. The interior remains substantially unaltered since his day, giving an interesting insight into an Edwardian law office.
Beatrix Potter Gallery, Main Street, Hawkshead, LA22 0NS, Tel: 015394 36355
Beatrix Potter & Hill Top Farm in Sawrey
Now, my dears, said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, you may got into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden. The Potter family had actually rented houses in the Sawrey area for several years before she purchased Hill Top, and she was familiar with the village of Sawrey itself. No doubt inspired by her brother's recent new farm life and buffered by some of the profits of her first children's tales she purchased Hill Top in 1905. Beatrix Potter is a character of interest. Both her parents were inheritors of Lancashire cotton fortunes, removed by one generation and with money not an issue rather playing at the late Victorian, Edwardian well-to-do life of holidays, visits, receiving guests and half-hearted careers, Potter's father called himself a barrister but he never practiced.
As a child and young women within this setting, Beatrix Potter was expected to play a role. Instead she rather retreated into drawings and research into fungus and mosses, showing talent but rather rejected by a male establishment. Margaret Lane's book, 'The Tale of Beatrix Potter' (not very original title!), written just a few years after Potter's death in 1943, and with the assistance of Potter's husband, is probably the best biographical insight. Lane hints at early depression, isolation and delves into a failed love affair, and a later life of contentment and obscurity from the public eye at Hill Top.
Beatrix Potter began writing her still cherished children's stories as letters to friends, but mostly children she knew, particularly one boy called Noel. Noel was the first to receive 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit'. Lane's book contains some of the original black and white drawings and stories which form part of letters and it's fascinating to compare these with the little coloured books. Initially Peter Rabbit was rejected by several publishers, but Potter (not hampered particularly by finance!) persevered and had it published herself. They sold well amongst friends and family, and word continued to spread. The design, writing, small size and illustrations are all Potter's work and there is something exquisite in the drawings, combined with just a few sentences on adjacent page. It is the package combined that works, the small size of the books, the charming illustrations combining human and animal features without seeming to denigrate animals. There's a real affection both for children and animals in these books.
The Hill Top farm house, and the village of Sawrey, is full of features contained in her books including the Tower Bank Arms in Sawrey, which features in 'The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck'. The rats which were once a problem in the house, particularly Mr Samuel Whiskers, seem to have disappeared. You can find out about them in 'The Roly-Poly Pudding'. In a visit to Hill Top, be warned it's a popular and small house, so best to ring before you visit. On display inside is also a small collection of her original drawings. Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's home for 38 years, near Sawley, Ambleside LA22 0LF, Tel: 015394 36269
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