Oh, Girlfriends! We made it! Finally, to Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm, a place I’ve dreamed of visiting for years. I brought my camera, my sketch pad and my journal and now I want to take you on the tour!
We started out from the little town of Ambleside in the Lake District where we’d rented a flat ~ Hill Top Farm was in Near Sawrey, about a half-hour drive. Here’s the music that was playing in the car as we drove along the narrow winding lanes . . .
Good thing a picture is worth a thousand words, because I don’t think a thousand words could ever tell the beauty of the Lake District! This photo (above) is taken just around the corner from our flat in Ambleside, and that’s just the beginning.
Here’s a view of some of the countryside you see between villages. The town names around the Lake District are familiar to me, although we’d never been here before, the village names ring out in my mind like a fairy story: Ambleside, Grasmere, Keswick, Near Sawrey; I’ve been reading about them in 
stories about Beatrix Potter all my life. It was startling to those names on actual road signs.
We didn’t plan to go to Beatrix Potter’s house the day we did. Although we’d traveled across the ocean to do this, the way it happened turned out to be kind of a surprise. It was the Queen’s Jubilee holiday weekend all over England and just like our Fourth of July, people were off work; kids were out of school, the Lake District was crowded with families, cars, hikers, bikers, and caravans. So our plan was for us to wait to see the house until later in the week, when the crowds went back home. But, we thought, it might be smart to just drive by Hill Top to get the lay of the land. . .
As it turned out, it was the only sunny day we had the whole week we were there ~ a perfect day to go out and explore. By the time we got to Near Sawrey, 
home of Hill Top, it was after lunch . . . way too late to even hope to get into the house. Because friends had told us before leaving for England, “Forget about getting in unless you arrive first thing in the morning. You have to be there early to get tickets. Visits to Hill Top are timed; its just a little house and they only let in a few people at a time. You’ll probably have to get your tickets, drive away, and come back later. There will be a line.” That was OK with us, we didn’t care because we had a week; we’ll go, we thought, leisurely, when the minibreak people go home. We just wanted to know how to do it, so we’d be ready when the time came; where to park, how the tickets work, etc. I didn’t expect to get Hill Top all to myself, but I was definitely willing to give it my best.
Signposts point the way to Windermere, to Wray Castle (the 
first place Beatrix’s parents rented for her childhood holidays where she fell in love with the Lake District); this way to Hawkshead, now to Sawrey. Such familiar names. We must be getting close. My heart is beating. There’s a bunny!
It’s hilly and green with cottages and farm houses, and it feels like a fairy tale. Suddenly we round a bend. A big green sign says “Hill Top.” What? Already? Is this it? We’re there? It’s the car park (British for parking lot) for her house! There’s a parking attendant right there, and the very first spot, the first one, is empty. He’s waving us into it with a big smile on his face. But we are confused. Joe leans out the window to ask, “Is there ROOM inside the house?” Because we know there can’t be.
“Oh yes,” he says, with a lilt, and his rosy cheeks get plumper with his smile, “Just right!” We look at each other. OKaaaay, we say, thinking should we? It was a definite change of plans. What are we thinking? YES, of COURSE WE SHOULD!! Let’s GO!
We get out of the car. My eyes are darting everywhere. I am scanning the rooftops of Near Sawrey. I’m thinking, This doesn’t LOOK like it. I thought somehow I would recognize it, why, I do not know. Maybe we’re in the wrong place (I’m fretting a little because this is too easy). But we see a sign that says, “Tickets.” Inside the little stone house we get a guide book along with our tickets for the 1:40 house entry. It is now 1:20. Heart is doing back flips.
We’re told to walk along the lane, through the village, around a bend and “Look for a little green gate.” Now we are the ones whose footsteps scrape the pebbles along the narrow road where Beatrix once walked, past the little tea rooms with their flower boxes overflowing, beside a meadow under the bright blue sky and puffy white clouds, to the picket fence gate that says, “entrance.” We stop. Give heart a rest.
Big deep breath, and then, go. Up Beatrix Potter’s very own narrow stone steps, s l o w l y, savoring every bit of it, along a little path, past a fenced and hedged meadow with buttercups, lambs kicking up their heels (all white and one little black one).
Under a tree with a huge twisted trunk, we see . . .
. . . two bunnies grazing on buttercups (See them? The second one is just off to the left of the crook in the tree); of course there were bunnies! There had to be bunnies! A discussion ensues, like Morning Science, I ask Joe, “Do you think they’re trained to stay there?” He says, laughing,” I think they can’t get out!” pointing down at the chicken wire encircling the pen.
Up a long stone path we went, where clumps of old-fashioned perennials ran all over each other, blurring together like a green watercolor.
XOXOXO
I took this little video so you can feel it along with me! And there it was, the house itself, Hill Top. Beatrix wrote,
“As nearly perfect a little place as I ever lived in.”
Sweet as pie, exactly as I have dreamed it, her real house, real to touch, two-story, grey rock with dark green trim around all the windows and doors and along the roof line, dripping with white wisteria.
The front wall was covered in rambling roses and festooned with Union Jack bunting (like all the rest of England during the Jubilee).
Only two more minutes before we could go in, I’m checking out every detail of the outside of the house, looking for clues! I smell the roses, then peek around a gate, seeing that one of her side windows was lined with the same Beatrix Potter People I’ve had on my kitchen shelf since I was in my twenties. (I wrote about that BP awakening in my journal ~ it’s too long to put here.) It’s really her house! So excited!
A dream is a wish your heart makes . . .
In through the front door we went. (More MUSICA?) They didn’t allow photos to be taken inside the house so this is where I pulled out the piece of paper I keep in my purse for sketching emergencies. I stood still in her rooms, writing and drawing, because I know you’re going to want to see it in our journal and I wanted to “remember” as much as possible.
Here are some of the squiggles and descriptions I jotted down in the house, and here’s one of the pages I’m translating into the diary. I can faithfully report that Beatrix is alive and well and still living in the 
house. Her spirit is fully there, in her very own straw hat that hangs next to the fireplace in the kitchen, her worn clogs at the foot an old Chippendale chair, in all the little bits and pieces of her life displayed in hutches and cabinets all through the house. Views from her upstairs windows remain unchanged because the village is unchanged. Looking through the same panes of leaded glass she looked through, I was touched knowing I was seeing what she saw, rooftops and fields, green hills, wildflowers and hedges, her view of the place she loved most.
Her childhood dolls were still there; and standing by her draped 16th century carved walnut bed, seeing the embroidery she did for it herself, I felt her presence in the nicest possible way. Everything is in soft warm colors, she loved this house the way Joe and I love ours . . . she treasured old things like we do, did most of her furniture shopping at auctions. There are antique hutches with flowered teacups and teapots, one of them is shaped like a pink crown; there were layers of thick flowered carpets — and lots of wonderful art on the walls. Paintings, watercolors and oils, mostly images taken from nature. The green and white floral wallpaper in the 
kitchen went up and covered the ceiling too. Everything in the house belonged to Beatrix. Most of the things in her dollhouse, the furniture and the miniature food, were bought for her by the first love of her life and publisher of her “Little bunny books,” Norman Warne.
We stayed in the uncrowded house, soaking it in, for two glorious hours, peppering the lovely National Trust person (Jenny Akester) upstairs with our questions (both the ones we thought of ourselves and the ones you were whispering in our ears). Jenny was gracious enough to share her wealth of Beatrix Potter knowledge with two (maybe thousand, including you dear readers) pilgrims from America.
Here’s what I didn’t know. If you’ve all seen Miss Potter, which you would love, you know that Beatrix was in love with Norman Warne. Against her parents wishes, they became engaged (she was 
thirty-nine, but there were many constrictions for women in those days and she was a dutiful daughter). A month later, while Beatrix was away with her parents on holiday in the Lake District, Norman fell ill, and died. Can you imagine? Shock. Something changed in her, and that very same year, 1905, she took her first step toward independence from her parents, and bought Hill Top Farm (many think owning a bit of the Lake District was a dream for both she and Norman). But despite what I thought to be true, she never lived at Hill Top full time. I didn’t know that, I thought she moved to Hill Top and lived there the rest of her life. Instead, it became her getaway ~ she continued to live with her parents in London, but she visited her house often. She decorated Hill Top, furnished it, turned it into a working farm, raised sheep, planted the garden, painted there, embroidered things for it, loved it dearly, but she didn’t live there. In 1908, she met the man she was to spend the rest of her life with, William Heelis, tall and handsome and five years her junior, who was a local solicitor from nearby Hawkshead (where we also went and visited his offices which have been turned into an adorable little museum). William had been helping Beatrix with her real estate purchases in the Lake District (she was busily using her “Little Book” money to buy up old Lakeland farms to save them for posterity). They fell in love, the old-fashioned slow way, and she married him (against her parents’ wishes) five years later (in 1913 when Beatrix was 47) and that’s when she moved permanently to Near Sawrey and into Castle Cottage with William where they lived together for thirty happy years.
William and Mrs. Heelis, as she was known from that time on, moved into Castle Cottage (that’s it above) just across the meadow from Hill Top. Hill Top, it seems to me, represented a dream for Beatrix — she decorated it all her life, even bequeathing certain personal items to it after her death, to be left on permanent view for the public to the National Trust. Beatrix died in 1943. William died with a broken heart, eighteen months later in 1945. And that’s just part of what we learned at Hill Top Farm.
We walked out the front door, eyes blinking in the sunshine (they keep the house dark, to protect the things inside, but also, that’s how it would have been in Beatrix’s day, she never put in electricity), completely fulfilled and happy, back along the garden path, into the gift shop of course.
I bought a couple of little things for my Peter Rabbit Room at home, just a little door hanger with a drawing that says, “Peter Rabbit’s Room” on it, and a perfect little coaster for next to the bed. There was an expensive limited edition of her book Peter Rabbit in there (those little lavender things in the very back on the left, behind that girl’s head, see them?), a first-time ever reprint of the one Beatrix paid to have published herself; and only 1000 made. I couldn’t bring myself to buy it. Don’t I have enough? I thought, erroneously, still reeling, brainless, from the wonderful visit. I will have to see if I dream about it, I thought . . . I’m coming back anyway. We have a whole week here! There is no saying goodbye. Not yet anyway.
TO BE CONTINUED . . . see Part. 2
SIGH!!!! THANK YOU both so much for sharing your visit with us!
Two hours for real were you allowed in there for that long? When I read a timed visit I really thought you would of been rushed through.
I do so hope you come to New Zealand one day to write a book on your visit here, we have Katherine Mansfield house and her dolls house you could visit……
Love Leanne
Although the visits are timed, I don’t think they make you leave, they never asked me to go! Was so happy, made friends with the person upstairs right away, just in case!!! I would love to go to New Zealand. I hear it’s magical!
Oh! Yes! Such a lovely spot in this world!
Thank you for the fabulous tour of Beatrix Potter’s studio and surroundings. It looks so peaceful there. Just the spot to lay down a quilt and relax with a cup of tea and a wonderful book. And speaking of books, I have a copy of “Beatrix Potter’s Art: paintings and drawings, with a great introduction with background and influences. It was bought in 1989 and I love looking through it every so often. I keep it beside my bed and when I need a lift, I pull it out and leaf through the beautiful drawings and watercolours. I especially love the few cat drawings that she did. We are so lucky to be able to enjoy your trip to England with you and Joe. Your photos and watercolours are enticing, and I am so looking forward to seeing your journal pages published! Thank you again.
Oh Susan I have been waiting for weeks to see Beatrix’s house. It was just wonderful. I loved every minute of it you have such a way of describing it I felt as though I were there.I can’t wait for the diary to come out please make sure there are enough copies. How wonderful for you to do this for us, take us on vacation with you and Joe. Look forward to this everyday. Enjoy dear friend.
xoxo Shelley, thank you!
Wonderful! Wonderful post!!! And congratulations to the gals who won the Jubilee mug, too!!!
We went on Friday when it was pouring and got bubble umbrellas lent to us that said “On loan from the National Trust”. It was great- despite the rain. Or perhaps because of it…..we had the house to ourselves for our tour time of 1:40!! Alice was given a little book to carry around the house and I was desperate to get a photo of the little signs that say so politely “please try not to touch”. Very cornily, in the mirror upstairs I peeked at my reflection and wondered if you had peeked at your own in that same mirror. We spent lots of time looking for rat holes, too. By the way, at the Beatrix Potter Museum in Bowness there’s a lovely photo of Norman Warne and he was the happiest looking man with a jaunty mustache. It always breaks my heart when I see his photo. Really looking forward to your book- I’m sure your Hill Top page is magical.
Loved it Patricia!
Patricia… I love that you “looked in the mirror.” Funny thing….I have
little mouse doors (my Dad made) in my floor mopboards….they are
painted with tiny doorknobs , they open & close, and inside I painted
a little mouse…..my children named “Charlie cheese”…. not the most
poetic name, but to them….it was…magical.
What a very special rainy day you must of had !!!
That sounds soooooo adorable, Dawn. Wish I could see a picture of it!!
oH how sweet….my Dad made it cute…just think of Tom & Jerry’s arched doorway….but with a little red door..
and when you opened it…..Charlie…a little brown mouse
with blue overalls. My Dad was so creative & artisic!
He also made a “fairy door” 16 years ago for the
bottom of a very old oak tree. When it opened…my
little Larissa would find and leave notes for the
fairies! Was a very special time !!
Oh I love the mouse doors!! How sweet! If you’re on FOSB do post pics!! We have our very own Mouseville here in our basement and the only way I can cope is to believe they all look like Beatrix Potter drawings! 😉 my husband doesn’t believe in killing any creature (he catches flies in jars with a slip of paper over the top rather then kill them. Flies!) so the mice lead fat happy lives since they’ve worked out the humane traps he uses. 😐 thank goodness they don’t come upstairs!!
All I can say is WOW! I’ve read and reread your post while languishing in every single word and picture. Thank you for the fabulous tour.
Oh My!!! I’m at work and I got an email that your blog has a new post! I can’t wait until I get home, so I read it and read is slowly and re-read some more….my goodness…my head is in the clouds…I feel I’m in a dream land! The photo are just gorgeous. I love every inch of what you have captured! I have a meeting in 12 minutes! I can’t focus! I don’t want to leave this fair tale! Darn! I’ll just re-read everything again tonight, so I can re-capture the feeling! Susan, thank you so much. This post really really made my day. xoxox
So happy you are enjoying it, the funny thing is, I never know! But then you like it and it makes my day!
SO glad I can give a little something back 🙂
Maybe it sounds strange, but this post made me cry. Just to know that there are places like this here on Earth….it makes me so happy. It’s like when I first read your book Autumn and was completely overwhelmed because I never knew there was someone like you in the world. Oh boy, crying again…
Thank you again, Sue, for sharing so much with us.
Miss you!
Dawn
Think of you all the time Dawn, always so happy to see you here!
Next to going myself, I think travelling in your handbag is the best way to see England! Can’t thank you enough for taking us along! How soon will that book be published? I think I know what I will be buying my daughter, sisters, mother, and friends for presents for a while!
Oh I am so jealous…. I try not to idolize people but England is so wonderful because they kept the old houses and buildings and they had so much character. I love Beatrice and the story of her life, how it all played out. Her tenacity….not unlike someone else I know!!!
You are so right, Joe and I were talking about it at dinner tonight, it’s the history, the deep history, and they work hard to keep it alive — there are wonderful television shows on every night that go back in time, showing how things were done, fascinating!
Just had to write again about this post…..( I have read it five times now) and this time I have an art question. Hope you don’t mind, because seeing your work take shape from the inception is just facinating to me.
I see your notes…..
Then it looks like you have written and sketched on a very thin paper, which is paper clipped over…maybe the actual watercolor paper?
Do you actually do three versions? notes, initial sketch and then redo everything on to a watercolor paper, and then you paint???
I just find the whole process so interesting, thank you for giving us a glimpse into how you are creating the Travel Journal too!
♥ ♥ ♥ thanks again.
I don’t usually have to do all that, but because my sketches are so BAD (standing up and in a bit of a hurry), I have to then sort of lay them out, before I go to the final watercolor paper.
I am enthralled just looking at your notes….knowing you wrote and sketched on the fly. Just amazing to me!
Again, many thanks for touching our hearts again…….and……
I have to say, that when I looked at the darling Beatrix Potter People in BP’s window……and then looked at them in your kitchen window……..you both have eight figurines in the window!
Isn’t that something?
So….just for grins, I looked up the number eight……and it is the number representing “Infinity”….
Isn’t that something?
I think it must be the infinite goodness of “great minds”…”creative minds” and “loving hearts”…….♥ ♥ ♥
See, that’s what I mean, we have so much in common! 🙂
Deb, that’s really Cool !
At last! Thank you for the wonderful narrative and photos! People used to call me “The Rabbit Hutch ” lady because I had a retail gift shop called by that name..so you know where my heart is! I sold all kinds of rabbits–real ones (minature lops) ceramic ones I made, collectible ones, cement ones for the yard, stuffed ones for children etc. I had gardens in front of the shop with an antique bathtub made into a fountain –it was wonderful. I would love someday to get to make your journey so thank you in advance for all the good tips!!
The drawing in progress is wonderful and hopefully it will become something for sale. Thank you again for this magical trip!
It is such a delightful pleasure to travel with you and Joe!
One day last week, 2 of my grand-daughters were visiting with us, Scarlett, 9 and Nora, 7. They had watched the movie, Nanny McPhee, that day. We had been sewing. They were playing with my fabric scraps. I was listening to them play. They would be talking and would slip into English accents!!! They love the Nanny McPhee movies and Mary Poppins. My sweet little southern belles with their English accents making doll clothes…
Sweet picture Maria!
Susan, I was puddling up so much while reading this that I had to take a deep breath, and calm down a wee bit before continuing. It was the fact the you were having such a cherished dream fulfilled that got to me…my heart was swelling for you…what a gift this trip is for you…and for us, thank you again so much for sharing this very special ramble with everyone…it’s been a wonderful slice of heaven tagging along….and a inspirationally sweet, and fascinating look into Miss. Potter, her precious life, and the beauty of England’s very best offerings.
xoxo J~
xoxo J~
I was teary eyed writing it, so I know how you felt!
There you go again, waving your magic wand, casting your own special kind of spell, spreading rainbows and sunshine, leaving a trail of sparkly fairy dust. Love!!
Oh! Just when I felt I couldn’t go another step; there I was in the back seat (again) with Jack (your dad) and all the girlfriends. And Susan this Beatrix Potter trip has been the highlight for me – I loved, loved, no really, loved it!
PS: Sometimes Jack is a naughty boy but that’s okay because….WE LOVE NAUGHTY BOYS and we only have two boyfriends with us on this trip…is that correct? Joe and Jack?
Oh, my, Susan!!! I have tears running down my face as I type this! It is the deep longing of my heart to do what you are doing, and you are soooo sweet to include us in your trip. And the music you linked us to today! Listening to that while reading your descriptions are what is bringing on the tears!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Love from Mary S. in Fresno, CA xxxoooxxxooo
XOXO Mary!
Have some catching up to do as had to leave the Girlfriends group and move back to the summer digs on Bainbridge Island (Las Vegas getting a bit warm). Am so glad I caught up with everyone as Beatrix’s home is amazing. I promise not to leave the group again! Loved the peek into your travel journal and especially seeing your working notes and sketches! I cannot wait to hold the finished journal in my hands and savor this wonderful odyssey all over again. Jack’s entry pretty much summed up how I feel about “our wanderings” … the voyage of a lifetime! He is one wise and proud papa. Thank you Sue and Joe for taking us all with you. Take good care.
xoxo
Jackie
Welcome back Jackie, we missed you!
A wonderful way to start my Monday……thank you so much for the visit to Beatrix Potter’s home. Lovely!
How wonderful, I think I must start my comment quite the same each day on this adventure you are one. How wonderful. I expect you go through your pictures and pick out just the one to share with us that gives us the best insight to the world you are in. Thank you so much for a tour of something I expect I will never see in person. I am a lover of books and these were some of my favorite as a child. I think I need to invest in some for our home to share with my grand children. The books they have are so much different. Nothing like Peter Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, Raggedy Ann….
to be able to see this through your eyes is such a joy.I have loved and collected Beautrix Potter things all my life, I have always wished I might visit but a brain injury has ended the prospect of flying for me, my eye sight is leaving me slowly and at this point I’m left with partial vision in one just my left eye, I cannot tell you what a joy this has been, your trip I mean, while I can still see .I’ve watched the movies and saw documentaries but your description is much more personal, I will never forget this.Thankyou so much
Oh Laurie, I’m so glad you can join us on this trip!!! You are so welcome xoxo!
This was so, so good! I had to save this post for a special quiet sit-down…
What a dream-vacation! I have loved it all, and am awed by your diary!
THANK YOU (again!) for sharing your adventures!!
Continueing to enjoy the trip. I do so love reading your posting after a long day at work. They take me back to my time in England and wake a desire to revisit.
OMGosh…..I feel like I was there with you. I can close my eyes and picture myself there. How beautiful….thank you!
Susan, a friend told me to be sure and see your story and I am so glad I did. I just got back from there myself about 3 weeks ago and living it again with you brought back every wonderful memory. This was my dream–to visit Hilltop and walk where Beatrix walked…..as I approached her cottage-home, my heart was beating so fast and when I finally actually stepped across her threshold, tears were running down my face. What an emotional moment….one I never expected and one I will never forget. Ann from Sherman, Tx.
That’s just how it was for me, such an emotional thing. We love these people who touch our hearts don’t we!
Susan, your comment sparks me to say, we DO love the people who touch our hearts, as you surely do for all of us –
you have touched MY heart so many times through your fabulous books, art, calendars, this fabulous Blog you do for all of us–thank YOU!!!!
I absolutely adore the comment left for you from Jack 😉
– and will eagerly watch for the publishing of your new book!
I sooooo enjoy this trip!!!
…You just described how I feel about You!!! I came SO
close to meeting you last summer at the marketplace(Where
Women Create Conference in St. Paul, MN.) Just thinking
about it now gets me all emotional ! I was so nervous &
excited to just look into your eyes and see your smile…and
say “thankYou!” for oh so many things. But then, the night
before I was going to say,”Hi”and worrying about “what if I cry?” I met my Mom at the hospital instead, she was taken by ambulance and….well…..I chose my Mom. But I thought of
You, while I was trying so hard to think of a way to help my Mom mend a broken heart…reminds me now of Beatrix & William. You were So close….but so far….Yet, I keep the thought of YoU always in my heart….”Susan Branch”….My Favorite Beatle !
XoXDawn
LOL, so nice, and I’m sure we’ll get another chance Dawn … I’m glad you chose your mom!!!
Pure Potter Bliss….’nuff said….thank you for sharing….have re-read the post all day long. Heaven!
Oh thank you! I actually felt tears of happiness spring up while looking at this…I’m so thankful for so many things in this post…that Beatrix was able to preserve the beauty of the Lake District for future generations (like Us!), that people cared enough to preserve her home, as it was when she lived there…that bunnies and lambs still roam there…that you and Joe had this dream (shared by so many of us girlfriends) and are living it out loud for us. Though I still cling to my dream of maybe Someday seeing it with my own, to see it all through your eyes here, is such a blessing. Thank you for taking us along with you and making a dream virtually come true for so many of us.
p.s. I have loved seeing all your traveling wardrobe – but especially love that scarf. It reminds me of my little blue and white poodle scarf from childhood, that I (sadly) loved to tatters. Yours’ is adorable!
It’s cotton and soft too, will also probably “love it to tatters!” One of the interesting things about Hill Top is that Beatrix intended to give it to the National Trust for years and years and decorated it, put in her most favorite things, to be for them, and for us!!
Aren’t you just SOOOO thankful that Beatrix had the foresight to do that?! I mean, even her personal items like her shoes and her straw hat and the tea cups she loved! Amazing woman, indeed! She KNEW one day that Susan Branch, and Terri J. and Patricia H. and Karen P. (and so many others) would LOVE to come and cry and see her things….again…AMAZING!!!
She saw the future, that’s why she did so much to help the National Trust, to conserve! Yes, we do love her!
Thanks so much for sharing, I loved your post on Beatrix Potter! We’re heading over to England in *less than* two weeks now for a wedding and I’m getting even more excited after seeing the houses and fields that are so beautiful over there (and of course, all of the sheep!). I didn’t realize it would be so cool this time of year, I checked the 10 day forcast and it calls for 50 degrees F and rain! Now I have to re-think what we will be packing so we can stay warm….
Definitely bring sweaters, socks, cozy clothes, walking shoes, raincoat, little umbrella.
…I couldn’t find words to say how wonderful this post is,and how well and generously you share your experiences…and then i read some of the previous comments and your dear Dad says it utterly perfectly….I can see where your talent for words comes from.Thank You Sue…
You are more than welcome Lesley!
My heart is fuller and fuller and join in with all the girlfriends with thanks for sharing your trip, photos and sketches, OH MY, it just gets better everyday and whenever you post a new blog, it’s awesome. I love the “Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter”, seeing photos of the real places, triple WOW.
Just thought you would all like to know about this…there is a magnificent article on the Cottage Gardens of Beatrix Potter in the Early Spring 2012 (Vol 21, No.1) issue of Country Gardens magazine. It is a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication. Six glorious pages of photos of Beatrix Potter’s house, Hill Top, and several drawings of hers in full color! The article describes her house and the types of flowers that she grew and loved in magical detail. Not to be missed! Susan, thank you for this post, have re-read it many times (as I have all of them) and LOVED it!
Ooooo, that sounds fun!
It’s a lovely gift to come on this journey with you via your videos, photos, and paintings. Do we all not love Peter Rabbit? My Mom read the story to me, I read it to my kids. One of my daughters gave me Peter Rabbit in Spanish 🙂 when I had gone back to college in my 50’s and was making a pretty serious study of the language. Loved the visit to Emma’s Pottery. Was Beatrix related to some potters??? I have been a potter in a small way. So much to love in your blog. THANK YOU for everything. Congrats to the lovely cup winner. I have to plug in my copy of Miss Potter now. Are you going to make your English Diary available to us all??? Hope so.
Yes I sure am, there is so much more of this trip I didn’t have time to tell about on the blog!!
It was everything I dreamed about, while reading about Beatrix. I so enjoyed my visit today…thank you for sharing.
Balisha
Oh my! It’s all so magical. I’m SO glad you gave us such a detailed tour. Thank you, Susan.
Loved your Beatrix post today – thanks so much for your delightful
blog and sharing on your trip. I know it’s a lot of work for you but
we are certainly enjoying every bit of it.
I remember walking up the lane to Hill Top and feeling like I was stepping into one of the little books. Thanks for taking me back. Jim was humoring me with the trip to Hill Top but he loved it as much as I. For what it’s worth….buy the copy of the first ed. You don’t want to have any regrets hanging out there about this trip. I bought tons of stuff in the gift shop. Jim kept telling people that I taught 1st grade. Truly, I did use it at school for years and still enjoy all of it now.
Someone mentioned the Susan Wettig Albert books. They are fun light books. I hate to finish one and wait a whole year for the next one to come out! Best wishes for a continued happy trip and thanks again for hauling us along.
What would Hill Top be without a bunny or two. *S* I’m so loving our trip. I know you don’t want it to end and neither do I. So keep on taking us with you. I love the lambs too. I could sit and watch them frolick for hours.
I don’t want it to end, but then, there is always JACK and GIRL KITTY, to cheer me up, and all my girlfriends, and HOME!
…and don’t forget your gladioulus !! I’m starting to think
that I planted corn instead….they are already close to
“knee-high” and it’s not even the 4th of July yet! 🙂
I know, the glads are going to be there too, plus Lowely has planted the vegetable garden!
Yay! A vegetable garden to look forward to!!!
I worked ALL day in my “flower” garden and
it is starting to look more & more beautiful !
It won’t be too long and you can get your hands
dirty too! I bet Lowely is excited getting it
all ready for you….and more excited to SEE
YoU and catch-up on girl talk! Martha’s
Vineyard in the summer……I loved it when I
was there and ……..so…. do they have a jail?
I think I was in one!!! Bret & I rented 1 moped
and bobbed heads back-&-forth into each other
while we road along the beach road. We
wanted to change into our swimsuits….and there
was a long line for a public bathroom…Bret
said for me to go in there to change. But I
saw a sign that said…DO NOT CHANGE INTO
SWIMSUITS ..he told me just to go….Just
ball your bikini up and hold it in your hand…
they will never know! Well the kinda crabby
lady knew and when I got to the door she
took me by the arm and said…I know what you
are doing…come with me!!! She took me
through dark halls to what looked like a jail
stall(not that I’ve ever seen one) ….and told me to change…Way SCARY !!! We got to the
beach…..and…..well…..I won’t even tell you the
story about Bret changing!!! So many Fun days
in the SUN…and it was the end of August!!!
Someday ….I will get back….but, I’m thinking
that I might not get my swimsuit hidden in
the palm of my hand….LOL !!! Perhaps…..I’ll
come back to Martha’s Vineyard in the fall….
I do Love sweaters!!! Such Fun awaits you
Susan…..wherever you are!!! XoXDawn
Wow. That’s a story. I have no idea, I can’t believe they wouldn’t let you change into your swimsuit — that seems rather strict, and I don’t think they took you to jail, but if they did, we need to DO something about the powers that be on Martha’s Vineyard!
As I always say, it is good to go but even better to come home! Norm laughs at me when I say that but it is true! He says I’m a homebody–guess I am… 🙂
🙂 Susan…I wanna go back just to find “That”
building…..but, it was almost the “olden days”
when this happened…so the building is probably
a two story beach shop or something. We had
so much fun that day….except, I kept wondering
if Bret would ever have come to find me???
Hi Pat ! I bet Norm is really Laughing because
he is glad to be “Home” too and he is Happy
knowing that You Love your Home…with Him
in it !!! 🙂 XoXDawn
DO NOT FEAR….the blooms are coming when your glads are around 3ft.!!! My Mother loved gladioulus and had every color in the rainbow and then some…I remember the green, orange, pinks, multi colors….so beautiful and hers were always tall. I thought about planting some at our new place after you and Susan were talking about them and time got away from me with Angela’s trip coming and all. Do you have to dig them up before Winter (Mother did and that was a big job)…I guess I was hoping somehow they were “winterized” now since the 60’s?? hope…hope….we did have an unusually mild Winter last year and I think the bulbs would have survived; but, IN can have cold weather what am I saying to someone living in MN??? DUH Hope you start to see the bloom coming soon….corn…hahaha that made me laugh you do have a wild sense of humor I think we are kindred spirits!!!
I don’t dig mine up, some make it and some don’t, I figure once I’ve dug that hole and covered it over, they are on their own!!!
Hahhaha……I think you should plant some too!!!
You still have time….yeah? I’m thinking that
once they are in the ground, they are in the
ground! And…if my tulips are any indication…
Squirrel Snacks! I call mine “hi Susan” so
Deborah, you could call them the same….or
you could call them “oh Dawn” 🙂
I had glads in NJ at one time. I didn’t dig them up. I just loved them and one of the greatest things about them is that you can cut them when the first bloom or two is open and the rest will open up inside the house just as beautifully as the first ones. At least mine did; I assume they all do that!
Do the squirrels dig up the bulbs and eat them? 🙂
Yes, squirrels or chipmunks do dig up and eat spring bulbs or at least did my beautiful hyacinths one year!!! UGH…and nix nay on the planting any bulbs here in IN…no rain since May 1st and the ground is like cement…so I will put that (planting glads) on my 2013 agenda!! I just love how many blooms are on one stalk and they last for awhile. Susan, once you get home and your glads are in full bloom would you PLEASE take a pic and put it on a blog?? I would so appreciate it…and then I can live virtually with you and Dawn and your lovely gladioulus to come!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Now….. GO BACK AND BUY THAT BOOK. You will regret it if you don’t get it.
Priscilla from So. CA living in SD
Oh that was so much fun! I love how you built the excitement up and then there we were. I just love everything about B. Potter and what she did, so this is a real treat. Enjoy the rest of your stay! Kit
The little side window with the figurines is where her tenant farmer lived, whom she bought the house from. There is still a farmer living there…we could see him tend the cows when we were staying at The Sawrey House hotel next door. I loved reading this as it brought it all back to me. Isn’t the Lake District just gorgeous!! The hotel you are in looks a lot like the Bibury Court Hotel…hmmmm
That was wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing. It was perfect. I was so excited with the turquoise gate – and the little black lamb was too precious.
Have you ever read the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter series by Susan Wittig Albert? There are eight, fun, light mysteries that involve the intrepid Beatrix – beginning the year she bought Hill Top (The Tale of Hill Top Farm) and ending with the year she and William Heelis got married. The animals (hers and the local wildlife) help her solve mysteries. The books are very accurate about Beatrix – her life, when she purchased the property, meeting William, etc. Susan Wittig Albert and her husband, Bill Albert, are very thorough in their research. I think you – and your friends – would probably enjoy them, especially now that you’ve been there!
I’m so excited and happy for you. Thanks again for sharing your adventure.
Oh My Gosh!! What a beautiful, magical place!! I am bursting with happiness now, after reading this! Thank you so much!!!
Wow!!! How beautiful!
WOW!!!…so glad I am back online…I’ve been doing grandchildren things~kindergarten graduation, dance recital and birthday party at the zoo on a 90* day + visiting my 89 year old Mom/Mum…just spent a delightful time during a welcome thunderstorm catching up on your visit to Emma Bridgewater and Beatrix Potter…you almost make me brave enough to travel to England to see for myself…almost, but not quite brave enough…so THANK you and Joe so much for sharing your wonderful adventures with us…safe travels…xoxo…
Joe makes me feel much braver than I really am!
“King!”
There’s too much to say . . . it all looked so wonderful! The Lake District looks more romantic and beautiful than I could imagine.
Love how your own watercolors are coming along . . . that diary is going to be such an incredible treasure!
Dear Susan, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing this beautiful post. I got the email earlier at work that you had put it up but I wanted to wait and savor it when I could enjoy it after work. I have been waiting so long for your visit to Hill Top, and was almost crying when I read and saw everything you had written about Beatrix Potter and her wonderful home, and especially when you wrote “She is very real, and loved in these parts.” Just wonderful. You are just so amazing that you actually did the sketches in the house so you’d be able to put them in your book for us later. I definitely am going to be getting that. I don’t think I will ever be able to take a trip to England to see Beatrix Potter’s home, but by your writing and showing us this wonderful post, I’m able to see and read about it through your eyes. Thank you so much! MANY, MANY HUGS!! XXXOOO Sharon in Maine.
So happy you’re enjoying it too Sharon, was really hoping to get across how it felt to be there so you would all be able to feel it too! As the saying goes, A joy shared is a joy doubled! xo
I can’t wait to see your watercolors of the inside of Beatrix’s life.
I know you will capture it all for us perfectly and we too will be able feel her presence.
Must have been enchanting to just drink it all in …. her very personal things and all of the things she loved. I know you soaked it all up, to pour it all out in your lovely diary that I look forward to owning and cherishing .
thank you, thank you Susan, for another beautiful post and another perfect day.
xox sweetp
Oh! Susan, How I loved the tour, it was magnificent!!! Every little book I own, I will have a warmer, than ever, spot in my heart for!!! I can’t wait until I can buy your book and see details you just could not show us. How precious and sweet everything about her and you too!! Thank you Joe for being kind and patient and hopefully loving this as well.
Thank you dear Susan!!!! What a delight!!!!
Anxiously awaiting more,
Bobbie
Oh my! You’ve just described a visit to Hilltop that is just the way I’ve always imagined it would be to visit it! And you’ve whetted my appetite for my own visit that is coming up at the end of July! How delightful! Can’t wait to hear the rest of the story!
Like so many, I was teary reading this as well! What a pleasure it is to share your joy!
s
You can add me to the teary-eyed group while reading your blog today. How beautifuly put and the pictures ~ just wonderful! Now I have to continue my hunt for my little BP book about Mrs. Tiddly-Winks. I know it’s in here somewhere! Hugs, hugs and more hugs…….C
This was just a wonderful post, Susan! I really enjoyed the trip – and I took my time studying the pictures thoroughly (as I did with the Emma Bridgewater factory). I felt like I was walking with you. And I absolutely loved the music with Joshua Bell … beautiful, beautiful music! Thank you so much for taking the time to do these kinds of posts for those of us who love Britain but will probably never get there. Take care.
Fairy tale land, indeed!
You are going to make of book of your trip, aren’t you? I can’t wait for it. That way, we will all be able to relive ‘our’ trip through your pages!
xo, Chris
Yes I am, I’m writing and painting it as we go along!
A book for us girlfriends to buy??
Yes ma’am!
Thank you for sharing your trip with us. I loved HillTop when I was there. Do you plan to visit her gallery in Hawkeshead? That also has some of her artwork on display. The Lake District is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I hope to return some day soon.
Yes, I will show it soon!
Thanks for taking us all along on this magical journey, you describe it so well it’s as if we are there with you. It has been a dream of mine to go to Beatrix Potter’s house as well, and I have to say you have made my dream come true. I know I will go someday but until that day you have fulfilled my wish.
I’m happy to hear that, I hope everyone has the chance to get to know her better!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!, just can’t say it enough. Your blogs make me feel good. I loved the trip we have taken today and glad that was a
“to do” on your list. I truly hate to have this trip come to an end some day. Maybe we could stop the clock for a few weeks.
Thank you Susan for sharing with all of us this beautiful trip. Seeing the places where Beatrix Potter lived was amazing. Her life touched so many people and still does. It’s heartwarming to see they have kept it as it was when she lived there. Loved the lambs, especially the little black one. So cute. I can’t wait to buy your journal someday.
This is the best vacation I have had in years :)) So happy you have a week there and will be able to return and see “new” things you missed the first time around. Having the sheep and bunnies near makes the whole place seem like a fairy tale setting – – – just perfect for something you have waited and planned for. I bought my 5 year old granddaughter a set of her books – – – will have to show her these post. Thanks for taking us along, it really has been a highlight of my day to check in and see the news. Drink it in!!
It was Beatrix’s idea that the books be sized “for little hands.” Another wonderful thing.
Thank you again for sharing this with us. I am emotional like many others who wrote. It almost feels like “home.” I know that probably sounds strange, having never been there, but that’s how I feel! I think I could truly be at home there!
I felt it too, like I’d been there before, like a part of me did come home! Isn’t that wonderful that we have that inside us?!
Oh Susan, I can’t tell you how delightful this trip is! Your dream come true sweet Sue, Hill Top Farm and also the home that Beatrix lived in with her beloved husband! And, RABBITS! Ancesters to Peter! Woo! Hoo! I can just see him out in the cabbage patch! I am so glad I read “At Home with Beatrix Potter”! Her roaming all over these hills! She loved them so! I can see all the little drawings she drew of the inside of Hill Top. At the top of the stairs, and all over! What a delight to be here with you experiencing this! Thank you!
I have to say Petey has been a hoot in all these blogs hanging out the way he has! Loved the pottery shop and the drives through the country side, Joe! Remember to stay on the left please! I am such a back seat driver, just ask my husband! He keeps trying to hand me the key! Thank you for dragging us all along with you, we are having the time of our lives!
xoxoxo
Tweet! Tweet!
Cheerio!
Susan
Thank you so much, we are all winners today!! The Tail of Peter Rabbit is one of my favorite, my children grew up listening to it. Beatrix Potter’s house and garden are beautiful. I can see Peter rabbit in the garden. You are a wonderful story teller. Thank you for sharing. This trip is amazing!!
Loving your blog posts with photos from England. My friend, John, lives in London, on a boat! and just opened a classic boat restoration business on the island Lot’s Ait. A sweet little teensy tinsey island right in the middle of the Thames in view of Kew Garden. Say hi for me and give him a kiss on the cheek if you ever get by there. I am thrilled to see all these great posts from England. Just like being there with you. 🙂
You really should go give him that kiss yourself, what an amazing place he must be in!!
Susan! I so enjoyed our trip to Beatrix Potter’s house studio so very much! I loved the awesome violin music and the way you ‘set the scene’ for us so well. It’s almost as if you turned into BP for a bit when you showed your quick sketches and then your diary page. Lovely to see you ‘at work’.
So happy to hear all the history, as well!
I could just feel your heart jumping out as you noticed the little figurines that you have in your own home sitting right on the window sill. I did enjoy the gift shop and the love stories. So glad Joe did not want to hurry us all on..LOL! Thanks, Joe!
I’m sure there must be a tea shop we missed…am I right? XOXO
P.S. Loved the little bunyips!!
Oh yes, right next door … I will show you. It was an amazing day.
It was so much fun! I really really enjoyed the trip, thank you! It was the next best thing to being there!! I do so love the English countryside. Thank you! Thank you!
Loved seeing your preliminary work for the diary — you are truly gifted in so many wonderful ways. It has been so enjoyable to follow this adventure with you. I purchased a copy of that very book, The Tale of Beatrix Potter, while visiting London back in the late 1980’s. We didn’t make the trip to the Lake District, so I felt reading her biography would help bridge the gap! Thanks for sharing. It’s pure magic.
Same reason I bought it! Gap bridging! 🙂
Loved it!!! Thank you sooooo much for sharing.
these are just the best pictures ever…..Ambleside is absolutely wonderful ….Why we all don’t just move there, I don’t know…♥♥♥
Oh yes, Cindy, I agree. The Lake district is the perfect place for Susan and Joe to buy a cute little cottage and Branch out for our 2nd virtual commune!
Yes, a virtual house for a virtual compound … how many acres?
Oh (ladylike squeal), we get to help you decide??? What fun! Well, we first of all must not overreact just because we have been squeezed inside the 12 suitcases for so long.
I think a list of the ideal situation and requirements must be composed first and then you and Joe must decide what we can afford. If a Mr. Heelis shows up as the estate agent then the single girlfriends who are interested must go over to check things out!
Hedgerows for sure so that implies fields for the sheep and lambs. Or is it pastures or meadows they need? Do we want cows? We better make a note to ask. Plenty of windows and light. Do you need northern exposure for your studio?
Well, as you can see my head is spinning!!! What do you think about 5-10 acres to start us looking for the ideal house and garden layout? Then if you and Joe can find that with additional property, just like Beatrix, you can keep adding more pieces of your new dreams until Joe says “Darling, I’m afraid we’ll have to stop soon.” or until you run out of money, whichever comes first.
Perhaps we could find a place within walking distance of both a pub and a tea room—that would be most suitable. Oh, and the public paths too!
xoxo
Yes, and the train station!
Yes, Susan, the train station! There is still so much of the UK left to see and the trains seem to run everywhere. We don’t want to tie ourselves down so much at the farm that we can’t do all the touring we want. It’s a good thing there are so many girlfriends to share the chores!
Are the trains still unreliable? Who should we contact about that; the Home Sec’y? Oh, wait, I think there is a Transport Sec’y. We’ll have to eventually explain that it is really safer to keep us girlfriends off the roads and on the rails. . .
I think it sounds like we have our farm manager right here. You are organized and know who to call! There are still little steam trains around here . . . so cute!
hahaha…sounds like fun!!! Whatever would the
English neighbors think!!!! I’m thinking that
Susan & Joe would need to come up with a
name…as “virtual” doesn’t sound so cozy….and
the “Land of Petey” may not be so good for
some of the other girlfriends!
Or the English neighbors! 🙂
A little story . . .
When Larry and I married in our forties we built a home in the country on a wooded 3-acre lot. I am a romantic and Larry , well, not so much, and he has a very quick wit! I thought it would be nice to name our little spot Kramer Wood since our last name is Kramer. Larry instantly replied that he liked Larry Land better!
And so our happy little marriage goes on like this all the time!
If he makes you laugh, that’s half the battle!
Farm manager did you say? I don’t know about that. From what I’ve seen/heard of the girlfriends, that may be like herding cats!!!! I’m afraid they will be trying to save the buttercups from being eaten by the lambs, setting up easels to paint “pastoral scenes in a plein air setting” while the light is just right, and helping Joe to build a maypole in the south forty, when I need them to muck out the stalls and swill the pigs.
And let’s not forget that someone or another is going to be moved to tears every 10 minutes and crying buckets all day long, myself included, although what motivates my tears might be different from theirs.
No, the more I think about it, the more I think that we must all retire before we settle down in the Lake District. We’ll have to hire Staff. Better make this a multi-volume book, leather-bound, Susan, that will make the New York Best-Seller list quickly. Put in all the blog comments as filler. It’s our only chance.
But please, don’t feel any pressure!!! This is your vacation and we want you to have a lovely and relaxing time and we Girlfriends love you to death and appreciate all you do for us!!! Really. 😉
xoxo
OK, see, I knew you’d figure everything out! 🙂
Glad to be of service, Susan! Anytime . . .
Over and over again I’ve enjoyed your excitement at being in Beatrix’s lovely spaces…….can’t stop re-reading this lovely message from you. Truly one of life’s best experiences is living what has been such a long held dream. You are a wonderful dreamer, Susan. You began in your 20’s to collect her “people” and have been loyal all these years to Beatrix. I think that’s one of the things I love most about you, Susan, that the things and ideas that you hold dear have been there in your heart almost your whole life…….even Joe was there before he was really there! I love that “old soul” quality you have and your loyalty…. but mostly your enthusiastic pleasure in the joys of your life. Thank you, Susan, for sharing yourself so wonderfully! You make me happy. As always, DonnaRay
Thank YOU DonnaRay! I have to say that it does feel like my life was already there before I got there. I always wondered if it’s that way for everyone?
No, it isn’t like that for many people. Some search their whole lives, some frantically by latching on to other’s dreams or the latest fad. My field is mental health and I’ve known the sadness of some who do not have the feeling of being home in their own experiences……they don’t have the confidence to just be themselves and own their own dreams. We are lucky, those of us who are loved so well by parents, family and friends. It’s that love which gives us the idea and the courage to be our unique selves. Clearly Jack and Patricia gave you a jolly good start and you’ve cultivated friendships and maintained family connections that have allowed you to thrive! No moss grows on you, girl! As always, DonnaRay
Oh yes, well I had that search too, that was part of the “already there.” By which I mean that the answers were there, and it felt like everything in my life, my family, relationships, and the way things unfolded, the good and the bad, were leading me to find them. But that last step is the determination to find out how it’s done, because if other people could make life the way they wanted it to be, I thought I could too. Like the quote says, “Trust in God but continue to row toward shore.”
Susan, tears were welling in my heart after reading this. I guess my heart was just busting for your joy of walking through your “dream come true.” There is nothing I enjoy better in life that to witness something like this. I’ve thought many times on this trip how Joe must be so content to just watch you enjoying everything. Sheer bliss! Thank you for this beautiful post. I asked you to give a wee wave to my relatives over there. Well, it worked. A wee bit of your “fairy dust” spun its magik in my favor. I received a letter from my relatives a few days ago containing pictures, history, and an invite to visit them in Wales. I cried. Visiting the UK is one of my “dreams come true.” I also received an old copy of your Autumn Book, and a copy of your Book of Days today – that alone was enough for me. Quite a week for both of us! PS My thoughts on the BP book you want? Buy it – you’ll never regret it. That’s how I’ve felt about buying your books. I’ve thought twice about buying them (we all do that), but always took the plunge. And the joy they’ve brought me on the other side of the plunge? Priceless!
So happy for your upcoming trip to Wales, and to visit relatives, who know their way around, how wonderful!! Thank you Rhonda for such a nice comment!
Thank you SO much for today’s wonderful visit!!!! My heart was beating right along with you!!!
Cheerio mate,
Bon ~*
My favorite post so far!!!! Do you realize how happy you’re making all of us?! I doubt that I’ll ever make it “across the pond” so to be able to see details like bunnies in the yard, or the dripping wisteria of Hill Top, well it just leaves me speechless! And just how darn cute was the gift shop!? I could stay there all day! Thank you “Miss Branch” from one of your “twigs” 🙂
Hi Susan,
Thank you so very much for all of the wonderful posts. This one is a special treasure. You and Joe are so kind to share your vacation with all of us. Thank you for these very wonderful gifts. I am enjoying each new day!
Susan, this has to be the most charming thing I have ever read. I started reading it at work this morning and had to quit because I started crying when I saw the illustration of Beatrix as a little girl. I cannot wait for the diary. I have loved the entire trip but this has a special place in my heart. I don’t think I could have enjoyed it any more even in person. As always, thank you for taking the time to share. Best wishes to you and Joe.
You too Charlene, thank you!
Darling Susan and Joe too, thank you for the gift of your trip, your sweet sketches will turn into paintings we can enjoy again. You are my inspiration too just as Beatrice was too.
Paula
Travels to experience Beatrix Potter with Joe & Susan has been a dream come true for me. As I read and saw the place where Beatrix walked and lived, I experienced tears in my eyes. I, too, remember this wonderful lady from my childhood and am thankful that I can still feel the same way about her and her stories at the age of 68! I am blessed to await the arrival of my little grand-daughter, Sophia, whom I will lovingly share the wonderful world of Beatrix Potter and her friends. Isn’t life grand?!!! And you have given me this gift!!! I shall treasure this forever. Sending love and hugs…..XXOO
* Hi Susan * Tuesday June 12…
“Are we there yet?”
You led us down the path, past the flowers, past the bunnies, through the little green gate and there it is…Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top home! Yes, we are indeed there! It’s all too exciting!
A dream come true for you, Susan, and through your journey, through your glorious descriptive text and through your stunning photos, it is a dream come true for me too…and all of the girlfriends. Oh My Gosh! Everything about Beatrix , her home, her gardens and her legacy is as I imagined it to be…yet even more enchanting…because of you and your excitement, as you share it all with us. I can’t wait to visit Beatrix Potter Country in person!
It is, if I may paraphrase, as nearly perfect a little place, as I have ever seen!
Thank you once again…Susan And you are, as nearly perfect a wonderful tourguide as I have ever had!
* Luv from Dorothy Ann on Cougar Mountain, Washington *
Wow, so enchanting….thank you for taking us!! So glad you and Joe are having the time of your life! Your posts are just so delightful. Love that the lambs are everywhere, England is just so precious! and so are you!
Congratulations to Melanie and Emily on winning that special mug!
Susan, thanks for another wonderful post. So much fun! England is so quaint.
Thank you, Susan – for sharing such a magical day with all of us. Oh, it was beautiful…and how it all fell into place…meant to be ! It is the first day of no school ( hooray – though I do love my job) and I was out in my little garden at 6:45…just making things neat, pushing pots this way and that, picking some flowers for my kitchen table – and I thought of Beatrix and how she loved her little home and garden. Me, too. Then I came in and did my traditional “changing of the cookbook on display” to, of course, The Summer Book ! Can’t wait to read the one you write about England. Enjoy your days…make lots of memories, and thanks for sharing the trip with all of us !
Hello Sue,
We opened the blog to find you on Hilltop
The music playing was soothing for the backdrop
The anticipation we felt like none other
Going through the gate
The heartpounding began
As Susan walked us right through the door
To Beatrix Potters Land
We read every word slowly
With so much anticipation at hand
The sketches, pictures, a video too
Background history we never knew
Our eyes filled with tears of joy
For your DREAM COME TRUE!
You Susan Branch have made the Magic Happen for all of us True fans/Girlfriends whom follow your blog each day.
Thank you so much and Hip Hip Hooray for all the kind things you do. With lots of hugs and tons of smiles sending them right back to you!
PS: Congratulations to Melanie & Emily on winning the beautiful Cup!
Thank you so much Barb!!
You have taken a hard week and made it into something so special for me….just watched Miss Potter, and of coarse loved it…how could I not? And seeing Beatrix’s world through your eyes, with your enthusiasm, love and joy, just made me feel so much better!
Thank you, Susan!
Cynthia
Only one word about this post: AWESOME!!!
Heart full of WOW! Every picture and word is such a gift for all of us. Thank you and Joe, for taking the time(precious time when your traveling) to share with such joy and detail. I can’t wait to buy the diary. Now, one last thing…we took a vote in the suitcase and it was unanamous, BUY YOURSELF THAT BOOK!!!!
I agree…you deserve it…BUY YOURSELF THAT BOOK !!!
I deliberately waited until today, my birthday, to check your blog, hoping I would find your travels to Beatrix Potter’s home as my birthday present, and there it was! Even more descriptive and wonderful than I could have imagined! I love, love, love all your detailed pictures and captions..the sweet bunnies living in bunny paradise, the outside walk to your destination, the little lambs, descriptions and your notes on the interior of the house, and even a tour of the gift shop! Thanks for the best birthday present ever! I hope you and Joe continue to enjoy your wonderful trip of a lifetime. Thanks for letting us tag along!
Happy Birthday!!!
Susan, Thank you so very much for sharing yourself and your adventure! Such admiration for you and your talents. You have followers, just like Beatrice! I have tears just appreciating the joy you give. Buy the book! Going on Amazon to purchase some of your books to add to my collection. ~Happiness & Smiles~ Bobbie
WOW … what a great post! 30+ years ago my folks traveled to England and Ireland. My mom got me a teapot in the town my grandfather was from in Ireland. Unfortunatly she found it broken in her suitcase the day they were in Windermere … and fortunately I got a darling little blue teapot with flowers and the word “Windermere” on it. Mom always knew how much I love Beatrix Potter so this was a fitting gift that I have used and treasured all these years. I could only dream about what Windermere looked like … but now your words and pictures have made it real. Enjoying a spot of tea right now in my little teapot and sending ♥ your way … remembering the best things in life are free 🙂 Safe journeys.
How darling that you have that teapot!!!
What a wonderful day for you! I have been truly enjoying your vacation and it’s so kind of you and Joe to share it with all of us.
We are having so much fun on this trip with you! Thank you.
Oh, bliss! So happy for you, and so happy for us that you are sharing the experience!
Such a fun trip- I really love your sketches! And the glimpse of your diary- squeee! I am so excited to see it!
I actually knew a lot of Beatrix’s life story- reading the Beatrix Potter stories by Susan Wittig Albert helped 😉
But it sounds like a real dream holiday, I only wish I were really there!
Congratulation Melanie..I know there has to be lots of squeals going on at her house…smile…and I know one day it maybe one of us!!
I love this post..it was so fun and realistic to visit Beatrice’s home..to see what he saw…just like time has stood still. And to feel her presence has to be so soothing and loving, just lie bing there with her after all these years of reading her books…smile…
I can’t wait until you go back and to see what you may have missed on your (our) first visit!
Love all your views…just helps us to feel like we’re there…
Blessings,
Gert
It really was like having a cup of tea with her…such a small gentle little house filled with magic. Yes, we did go back, the last day, I can’t wait to show you the little book up close. I also found a really wonderful surprise for the girlfriends, I tucked away. How I missed these things the first time, I don’t know . . . makes me realize what a tizzy I must have been in!
So you bought the limited edition of the reprint? I’m so glad! If anyone should be allowed to treat themselves to it, you should! xoxo
I did! How could I not, after finally getting here, after all these years. Woulda’ been a crime!
Oh my gosh….you have me so excited…and I can’t wait to find out what you found for us…smile…
Blessings,
Gert
I’m just adding to it as we go, it’s pretty darn wonderful, I want it to be a true treasure.
This is the best vacation-by-proxy that I’ve ever been on. I can’t wait to check your site every morning and look at it again at the end of the day as if flipping back through photographs of a favorite trip.
I tell my friends to come check your site. It is so lovely. Not only the sights (and sounds) shared from the wonderful world of Beatrix Potter and England, but your descriptions make us feel so much a part of your trip.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Happy to do it Kay!
Oh you’re the best!!! Thank you for sharing this special trip! I could move right in to Beatrix’s home I think. I love it all! Your artwork is beautiful! An English diary. Please put it in your shop!!! I’d love to buy one. Again, a zillion thank you’s for sharing such a special day, a special trip. ;)Alyssa of Boston Bee
I’m going to have it in my shop as soon as I get it printed! It’s been so fun to do, so much has happened I haven’t had time to write about on the blog!
It’s almost too much…it makes my heart hurt….
Has made me cry from the beauty. I know how you feel.
Wow, Susan! Not sure I can say anything that hasn’t already been said by the other girlfriends, and your Dad, oh, that made me cry! How sweet is he?? I’m such a long time fan of Beatrix and I can’t believe that it just hit me with this post, that probably one of the first things that drew me to love your work was the similarity of the watercolors! Both your art and hers are so pure, there is just something that draws you in to them. I can’t thank you enough for this wonderful, creative journey we are all on. I’m so very happy for you – to get to enjoy this “dream come true” – I can’t think of anyone more deserving, you spread so much happiness to others! Looking forward to more adventures! Thanks of course to wonderful Joe, too!
You can’t imagine how it feels to be compared with Beatrix Potter!
The fact that so many of us LOVE Beatrix Potter’s watercolours AND yours is in itself evidence that we think they are comparable. Beatrix, however, only seemed to give her little books the wonderful colors that bring a scene to life. Her other paintings, like the one you posted, are rather washed out, in my opinion. Yours, on the other hand, have always had a beautiful palette that, as Juliana says, draws you in. AND you’re much sweeter than Beatrix Potter was in her later years!
Give me time . . . 🙂
Dear Susan….if I may be so brave…on behalf, of all, of us Girlfriends……
We would like to give you the “Book!” SuRpRiSE!!!!! Yes the “BOOK! All
wrapped up in lavendar!!! And…ya know, how you said they only printed
1,000…..well now it’s 999 !!!! Don’t worry about the smudges here & there
on the lavendar wrapping….the book is fine! Just a “little” mud…..as we tried
to run as fast as we could to catch up to the traveling suitcase! And let
me just say….Joe does Not drive like an American tourist anymore!!! WHEW!!!
“We Love You Susan and We Say Thank You !!!!!!!!!” XoXoXoXGirLfriENds
Susan, I hope you did get the book if you Really wanted the book. And if you Really wanted the book and didn’t get the book…can I get you the book?
No Dawn, I did go back to Hill Top!! 🙂
Stop Dawn! You girlfriends are so sweet! 🙂 But of course I couldn’t just LEAVE without it!!!!! What was I thinking??? And yes, Joe is a sophisticated European driver now, perfection, it’s the OTHER people on the road I worry about! All those crazy Americans! 🙂
!!!!!!!!!!oH Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy!!!!!!!
……hahahah …..the wild & crazy OTHER people !!!! 🙂
Have a great day ……and…..read any good “book” lately???XoXDawn
Susan,
Like so many others, I keep coming back to re-read the magic you’ve been so kind to share with us. I especially enjoy the little videos because your narrate them exactly as I do on our trips. Our words are the same, we could be twins.
Miss Potter’s house and garden are surely the highlight of this extraordinary journey that you’ve shared with us. I so love the English countryside at this time of year, but especially seen through the eyes of an artist as yourself. You bring it all to life and I think we all thank you for that. We all need a little/lot more
beauty in our lives with some fantasy thrown in for good measure. Keep it coming!
Kathleen
OK Kathleen! It’s pretty easy to do when everywhere you look there is such beauty! All I do is point and shoot!
Thank you for taking me back to my own magical visit complete with bunnies.
One of the things I remember was the lovely foxglove growing along the roadsides as we approached the house. I love the movie, MISS POTTER, and cry every time I watch it.
When I think of all of the joy and pleasure that Beatrix Potter brought into this world with her charming stories and illustrations, I have to compare that with your talent for sharing joy, happiness, beautiful artwork, and keepsake books. I think you are our Beatrix Potter of this century. 100 years from now, people will still be enjoying your books…and we are so lucky that we have the pleasure of enjoying them right now! Thank you so much for all of the beauty and joy you bring into all of our lives and for how unselfish you are to share your wonderful experiences with us. (and thank Joe too – what a special guy!)
What a nice thing for you to say Marilyn! xoxo! From Joe too.
“Good thing a picture is worth a thousand words, because I don’t think a thousand words would cover the beauty of the Lake District! ” *How true and it was a pleasure to read about your exciting trip Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top through such ‘seeing’ eyes.
Thank you for mentioning how Beatrix Potter was involved in protecting what is now The Lake District National Park for us all to enjoy today, I sometimes feel this gets overlooked.
A delightful account, thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Hi Cumbria!!! So nice to hear from you! What Beatrix Potter did up there was just amazing…it’s really the thing about her that attracted me to her in such a profound way. That she was so far-seeing, wanting to conserve this magical spot, supporting the Trust like she did, preparing her properties for them to take over; when we took the ferry ride, the captain pointed out some of the land that she gave; what a gift!!! Thank you Peter Rabbit! Have a wonderful day up there!