Beatrix Potter spent as much time as she could at Hill Top, furnishing it with her favourite things and being inspired to create many of her best-loved childrens' stories. Upstairs there’s a dolls house full of items from The Tale of Two Bad Mice, and the landing is where Samuel Whiskers is seen pushing a rolling pin. She was the daughter of a barrister father and a socialite mother, both of whom were themselves members of families who had built great wealth during the industrial revolution. Stepping inside Hill Top feels oddly familiar – like visiting the home of an eccentric great aunt. BEATRIX POTTER unleashed a fiery rant at aspiring author Roald Dahl, after the then-six-year-old tracked down his beloved idol to her home in the Lake District. Potter, however, had been illustrating fungi since the early 1890s, when she was in her mid-twenties. She bought the farm with the royalties from The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and used it as a setting for five more adventures. Born Helen Beatrix Potter on July 28, 1866, in London, England, Potter is one of the most beloved children's authors of all time. He… How many years did Beatrix Potter live? You're now subscribed to our newsletter. “Some of the walls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside them.”. Destinations stories. Gradually Beatrix's interest turned to mycology, the study of fungi, and it was this shared interest which brought Beatrix Potter and Charles Macintosh together for the first time.It was this meeting which led to a long correspondence which gave great pleasure to both. famous fiddle player and music teacher. It’s not supposed to be an interpretation of the books, but if it brings people back to rediscover the originals, that’s fantastic.”. From November through June, those dark winters smothered in London fog (actually Industrial Revolution smog), she lived in her top floor nursery alone. Her first rabbit was Benjamin Bouncer, who enjoyed buttered toast and joined the Potter family on holiday in Scotland where he went for walks on a lead. In her 20s that she sought to try and get her children’s book and drawings published. Hill Top was Beatrix’s sanctuary; a place where she could grieve the death of her fiancée and escape the confines of her London life. “You’ve got a practical lady very deeply involved in farming and land management, yet she has such a strong imagination – the way that she engages with this house and populates it with interesting little characters.”. when Beatrix was about 18 she wrote in her diary: Even She was the daughter of Rupert and Helen Potter… Fortunately for the literary world, Wray Castle was let out as a holiday home, and it was during a stay here that 16-year-old Beatrix Potter discovered the Lakes. His father, also Charles, was a hand-loom weaver, Her family was quite rich. “Though Beatrix wasn’t really a supporter of the suffrage movement, she did a lot to empower women, especially in rural communities,’ says Liz. / Lived: 77 years: Zodiac sign: Leo: Beatrix Potter facts. On her death in 1943, Beatrix Potter bequeathed 4,000 acres, including farms, cottages and flocks of sheep to the National Trust. Most The family spent the winter half of each year in London, and the summer in the country. ALTHOUGH she is forever associated with the Lake District - where she would eventually live - it was in Scotland that Beatrix Potter first learned to love nature. Beatrix Potter was born in London in 1866. One of Beatrix’s old haunts didn’t make it into the books: Wray Castle, a Victorian folly built in 1840 by retired surgeon James Dawson. But in an odd way, Beatrix resembled the Greek goddess Persephone. In October 1892, Potter met with Charles McIntosh, a naturalist she had known since she was four: he was the local postman in Dalguise, Scotland, where her family holidayed for many years. Beatrix Potter, Walter Scott and William Wordsworth are just a few of the guests to have partied at Storrs Hall, a Grade II listed mansion on the shores of Lake Windermere. in fungi, met and subsequently exchanged letters and specimens //--> Everything is just how Beatrix Potter left it; it’s as though she’s just popped out. She studied the uniqueness and intricacies of mushrooms from her home in London, and while on holiday in Scotland. Potter was born in Kensington, London.