Beatrix Potter

Sunday 5th July 2026

Beatrix Potter (1866-1943)
Just a little more on Beatrix – born to wealthy parents she grew up in London. In most instances she was left to her own devices and spent much of her time drawing and painting. She loved observing nature and spent endless hours studying animals. Between her and her brother they amassed quite a collection of pets including a frog, 2 lizards, a doormouse, a family of snails, mice, neuts, a ring snake, salamanders, a bat, a tortoise, a hedgehog and a rabbit.

As a teenager, Beatrix’s family spent their summer holidays in the Lakes District where she developed a deep affection for the area. During her time in London she began writing and illustrating her stories, including scientific research after six years of study on mushrooms. You would be forgiven for thinking they were the toadstools of Alice in Wonderland written by C.S. Lewis in 1865.  But no, in the progressive era of 1897 she had concluded that mushrooms had a reproductive system of spores. Silly wasn’t it? And she was treated that way by the Linnean Society who allowed her uncle to read it, before they shuffled off for port and cigars. Beatrix withdrew the paper from publication and went on to sell enough books on rabbits to buy 15 farms.

In 1901, after her first Peter Rabbit story was rejected by several publishers, she took the brave step of self publishing 250 copies, followed quickly by another 200. In 1902, one publishing house agreed to print her book if she could provide colour illustrations, which she did. Their first print run was 50,000 books. Beatrix had become a successful author. She insisted that all of her publications remain as little books, suitable for little people.

In 1905 Beatrix purchased Hill Top Farm which you may imagine is a sprawling feudal estate. It is not. Access was difficult, it required a ferry ride across the lake and a brisk walk up the hill to a two level stone cottage. The bulk of her writing was done here and published or drafted by 1913.  The house and gardens provided the inspiration for sketches in her books and the plants and animals around her came to life with the stroke of her pen. Farming was not in her skill base and early attempts to conquer the landscape incurred the mirth of locals watching her using a measuring tape to detail the length and width of meadows. Within a few decades they would defer to her judgement of sheep husbandry and land care. Her attention to detail was relentless.

She married William Heelis when she was 47 and the couple worked hard on the properties in the lakes district. This included the house and land Beatrix bought for her mother, at Lindeth Howe, where we stayed near Lake Windermere. Her books are now sold by Penguin.