Visits to Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's House
As an artist, one of my favourite and most inspiring places to visit in England is Hill Top, a 17th-century farmhouse cottage and once the home of the beloved children's author and illustrator, Beatrix Potter.
Lucky me, I've visited Hill Top a few times since we're just a couple of hours away (and still look forward to our next visit - so inspiring!). I thought it'd be fun to share some pictures from our times there.
When you step inside the house the staff requests that you refrain from taking photos, so I don't have any to share with you (but can be found through a Google search). Confession time: I'm actually happy when this happens since it gives me the chance to fully appreciate everything that I experience!
It's beautiful and cosy in there, filled to the rim with Beatrix's collections (of which you can see pages and glorious pages of through the National Trust - scroll to the bottom for Hill Top), including a gorgeous dollhouse with the most intricate of miniatures. My personal fave inside is the window seat in her bedroom; you can just picture her overlooking the sheep on her farm while sketching or coming up with ideas for her next book!
Luckily the property is so charming that there's lots to photograph outside and around the village (I actually had to cut back BIG time on what I originally was going to share!). The garden is beautiful and additions like the wooden wheelbarrow planter and open box of watercolours just add to the quaintness.
Around the village you can see spots that inspired Beatrix so much that they were featured in her books.
Buckle Yeat Guest House is one gorgeous example (the place is covered in colour with flowers - have I mentioned how much I adore spring in the UK?!). This lovely B&B is featured in The Tale of Tom Kitten, Pie & The Patty Pan and The Tale of Pigling Bland (as seen on the sign out front). My mom and I took lots of fun photos outside here!
This handy little map pointed out other important places in the village that we also searched out, like the Tower Bank Arms..
..and the old post office (below), featured in the Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan.
On the way out after one visit, I popped a postcard (for an Instagram friend/customer who's a huge Beatrix Potter fan) in "the" village post box also featured in her books.
To end that day we stopped by the Beatrix Potter Gallery, nearby in Hawkshead, where her artwork is displayed (again, SO inspiring and just made me excited to get home and create!).
We practically had the place to ourselves, so could really take our time reading and taking it all in.
Perfect ending to another day of all things Beatrix Potter!
We practically had the place to ourselves, so could really take our time reading and taking it all in.
Perfect ending to another day of all things Beatrix Potter!
If you enjoyed this post you might like the other trips/adventures we get up to! Just check out my blog posts and filter to "adventures".
If you're just here for the spun cotton, you might want to see my spring makes (bunnies and chicks and sheep, oh my!).