It’s a beautiful summer day on Martha’s Vineyard when I’m writing this; bees are floating through the lavender, beach towels are flapping on the line, a gentle harbor breeze is softly rustling the trees. But so quiet ~ it’s perfect beach weather ~ that’s where everyone must be. There are no cars on the road, a rare thing for summer on this island. All I can hear through my open windows are birds. ♥
Soon I’ll show you more about what’s going on here but today, I think we need just one more visit to Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm — our second visit in a week — you knew I would have to go back!
Remember how gorgeous the sky was on the first day we found our way to Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm? It wasn’t like that the second time . . . here it was on June 7, over the Lake District, dark, rainy, and moody. Musica? Yes.
Before we left the Lake District, I needed one more look at Castle Cottage (the light beige house above) where Beatrix lived happily-ever-after with her husband Willie for thirty years. It’s privately owned so this is as close as I really wanted to get, but there it was, a sweet comfortable-looking little house just across the meadow from Hill Top.
It still felt funny that we could just drive here. Beatrix Potter has been so far away from me for so long, almost on another planet. But shockingly, like any other place, like any old McDonald’s on the corner, you can drive right up, put on your blinker, turn in, and park. Go through a little gate, walk up a path and there it is! Where it’s been for over a hundred years, with visitors just like me, coming and going.
I didn’t get a ticket to go into the house again because I have that vision permanently pressed into my heart. I will never forget looking at the view through the wavy old glass of her bedroom window, the same ripply view of hills and green and cottages she saw all those years ago. But there were a couple of things I needed to do before we left — I had unfinished business. As I was walking through the rainy garden for the last time I noticed little wet side-path I hadn’t seen before. At the end there was a green door in the garden wall. I went to investigate. I didn’t want to miss anything.
I pushed it open slowly, making sure I wasn’t going somewhere I shouldn’t — then ducked under the dripping lilac to go inside. It led to the walled vegetable patch in front of the house, and gave me a slightly different perspective on the house. I was inside the iron gate for the first time. All alone, in the rain, in Beatrix Potter’s garden. ♥
Of course, Peter Rabbit was bound to get in trouble in this neck of the woods! Such temptation; rhubarb and strawberries too.
There were little details I couldn’t see from the other side of the iron gate, like this recess in the rock wall. It’s called a “bee-bole” ~ it’s made for sheltering bee skeps like this charming white box hive that Beatrix had “fixed up” — she also painted it into The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck — later I painted it into the journal I kept of this visit. (You would have enjoyed watching me juggle camera, umbrella, hood on rain coat, purse and tears while taking photos.)
I also came back to get the name of the roses climbing over the front of the house. I asked the person at the door but she didn’t know. Which surprised me . . . they must get asked that question two-hundred times a day because those roses smell like heaven. Don’t inquiring minds want to know? So they can grow them all over their barn? Or something? So I emailed the gardener, and guess what, he didn’t know either! My blog girlfriends thought maybe Zephirine Drouhin.
Here they are, up close. They also look a little David Austinish with so many petals, they smell like David Austin roses too, really strong, but the gardener only called them cabbage roses.
The other thing I had to do was to take a photo of my miniature Beatrix Potter book as it soaked up some local ambiance, so I could bring it back to the Peter Rabbit Room to spread the wealth (a little more magic never hurts). The little book is so proud in that room since we got home, its buttons almost pop, bragging around to the Beatrix Potter People of where it’s been and what it saw!
Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail hoist it on their shoulders like a returning hero.
But this is what I really came back to Hill Top for . . . I knew, the moment I left the first time, I had forgotten something. I must have been crazy to even think of coming all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to England, then to the Lake District, over the narrowest rock-lined roads you can imagine, on the wrong side of the road, risking life and limb, and then leaving this behind? I scare myself sometimes. I’d picked it up in the gift shop and then put it back, regretting it every moment since, dreaming about it!
It’s an exact copy of the first book Beatrix Potter (who, as you can read in my journal of this visit, A FINE ROMANCE, is not only an illustrator, but so much more. Most 
importantly, a conservationist savior of the Lake District, but also a respected natural scientist and regular person, despite being a genius, who was very proud of her prize-winning sheep) paid to have published herself, exactly the way she wanted it to be. For this special, first-time-ever reprint, they used the same cover she designed originally, but they also added a dust jacket taken from editions published in 1903 by Warne; in a charming calico pattern supplied by Edmund Potter and Company (Beatrix Potter’s family business, isn’t it adorable? Oh, for ten yards of that!). They put the book in a special little bag and the only place you can buy one is at the gift shop up the garden path at Hill Top Farm. ♥ I could not go home without it.
What makes them extra special is, except for the surviving original books, there are only 1000 copies like this. On earth. (At least that’s what they told me, and I choose to believe!) And they all have numbers written in them like this.
The book is written in her own handwriting; all the pen and ink drawings are in black and white, just as they were when she first published the book. Only after Norman Warne started publishing Beatrix’s books were they done in color. He believed in her.♥
I had (was forced by a power stronger than myself, therefore the court would surely rule me not responsible) to steal a flower from the garden to keep in the book. Stealthy, like a cat, despite the pouring rain, looking both ways and still seeing no one — into the dripping mock orange and climbing honeysuckle I went. Rain pattered my umbrella as I tucked the wet rosebud softly, ever so softly, into my raincoat pocket, and was out of there before anyone noticed, leaving only a trail of muddy footprints, a clue soon to be washed away by the deluge; because I needed to press a real Beatrix Potter flower into my book more than I cared if I went to the Far Sawrey town jail . . . in fact, I took two flowers . . . . the rose, and an Iris for my journal.
And then it was time to go. Other than going inside and asking to take a nap in her actual bed, I thought I had done it all. The rain was coming down hard, Joe was waiting on the other side of the little gate with the car running, reading his newspaper. I stopped and took that one last photo of Castle Cottage ~ nostalgic, recalling memories that weren’t even mine ~ across green Post Office Meadow. Nothing in the village of Near Sawrey has changed since Beatrix walked the narrow lanes with her border collie Kep at her side.
I hope you enjoyed our visit — I wrote more about this dream-come-true in our travel journal in case you also have a place in your heart for the life of Beatrix Potter . . .
What a delightful treasure! I have so enjoyed reading about your wonderful journey and thank you so much for bringing us along. I especially enjoyed the photos of the lambs–who wouldn’t be smiling seeing them everywhere. I love your work and so appreciate you sharing it with us.
I HAVE LOVED!!!!!!! MY TRIP TO ENGLAND WITH YOU, DEAR SUSAN. YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING MY DREAM AND IM SO HAPPY YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE US A TREASURED DIARY OF ENGLAND. BUT RIGHT NOW I WOULD LOVE!!!!!! TO WIN THE DEAR BOOK IN ITS OWN BAG, HOW SPECIAL THAT WOULD BE.YOU HAVE BROUGHT MUCH JOY AND DISTRACTION ON MY BREAST CANCER JOURNEY. THE SURGERY IS OVER MY LYMPH NODES ARE CLEAR, THANKS BE TO GOD, NOW THE HEALING WILL CONTINUE AND YOU WILL CONTINUE TO BE MY BRIGHT SPOT IN THE DAYS TO COME.THANK YOU.RUTH
Congratulations!!!! I am so happy for you, Ruth!!! You DID it!!!
Ruth, I am so happy for you that it is all behind you!
Ruth, I, too, am a breast cancer survivor who also had clean lymph nodes. I’m cancer free for 4 1/2 years now. I pray you are doing extremely well. I know your journey has been special. Blessing upon you as you continue in treatments perfect for you.
Love,
Jane Alexander
Pennington New Jersey
Ruth – what wonderful news – congratulations on the best outcome – prayers for the blessings of healing ~ mari
Sending healing prayers your way Ruth!!!
OHHHH! I’d love that particular souvenior of “our” trip. I love Beatrix Potter also–the movie “Miss Potter” sends me journeying back in time every time, and there have been many times!! Love your lamb! Once again, Cheerio!
I would love to see my name in that book. Thanks for the chance. I have so enjoyed your trip, it was almost like being there myself. Thank you for that.
your pictures makes me want to put on wellies and a head scarf. shrug into my oldest bulky sweater and take a walk to that walled garden and smell the roses for myself. i so envy you for being able to enjoy england and sharing it with us. Rule Britannia!
Dear Susan,
I have enjoyed this trip through England with you so very much. I would log on every morning hoping for another post from you taking me back to my one and only visit to England 28 years ago. Thanks to you and FOSB, I now have 2 English pen friends. Janey was in Ambleside when you were there and looked high and low for you, but unfortunately, your paths never crossed. That would have been a dream come true for her. She kept us updated with photos though just in case one of us spotted you. Thank you for you kindness, friendship and loving words. Whoever wins this book will be the recipient of a treasure of a lifetime, and will be so blessed to have it. Thank you for this great opportunity.
So close, yet so far…you purchased the book on June 7. My birthday is June 9. Close, but not to be. Beatrix Potter conjures up fond memories of my dad. He had his own set of nursery pottery from his childhood. I remember him taking his tea in his nursery cup even as a elderly man. So sweet. Thank you for sharing the virtual trip to the Potter home.
This gave me shivers- so absolutely lovely!! I would treasure this completely!! Thanks for the opportunity to have a shot at this beautiful book!
Such a special rose you have now, dear Susan! I am like you, I would not have been able to control myself. What do you bet that in no time a more beautiful rose grew on the end of that perfectly pruned branch that was left behind? ;~D
Susan,
I have just found your blog but have spent many happy hours here dreaming and appreciating. Each year in May my sister and I phone one another and get out The Summer Book to plan the coming summer season and reminisce summers past. As a retired children’s librarian I found your trip to Hilltop a delight. With an ill husband we don’t plan trips right now and don’t get far from home but I lived vicariously through your blog diary and was thrilled to “almost” be there.
For all Anglophiles like me, try this blog: http://blog.londonconnection.com/category/celebrations/
Actually, Susan, that’s where I found your blog…he listed it under Beatrix Potter!
Hi Susan, I, too, love the world of Beatrix Potter. Our boys, now 28 and 25, received a figurine every Easter. We have decorated our Easter table place settings with Peter, Benjamin and friends all these years. Someday, when they have their own families, these will go to them to continue the magic.
You have been really generous to share the halcyon seas, ambling English roads, quaint tea shops, and your warm commentary with us, your friends from afar. Thank you for slowing down the world so we could join you and Joe vicariously for a few weeks! XX
It has been so nice sharing your journey. What a wonderful trip! Thank you for all of the emails. It took my breath away when I realized you would be visiting Beatrix Potter’s home. Then – to see all your wonderful pictures. Every spring I have shared the wonderful Beatrix Potter stories and illustrations with the children in my class. We watched the animated versions after we read the stories! Thank you for bringing a book back for one of us. It would be a treasure above all treasures. Have a wonderful day everyone!
I have so enjoyed reading all the posts about your fabulous trip! You really did make me feel like I was there with the videos and pictures. Thanks for the chance to win this ‘one of a kind’ book. It would be wonderful!
Susan,
I’m so glad you got to visit Hill Top Farm for a second time. It’s amazing what we miss with just one visit, especially being so excited trying to it take all in. What a wonderful surprise! I knew it would be something very special. How very sweet of you to get an extra rose and the very special book for some lucky person. Someone will be very blessed to receive it. About a year ago I bought a Peter Rabbit book that came with a small stuffed Peter. It’s hidden away in my closet awaiting my first grandchild who is yet just a twinkle in the eye. I’m saving it to share with them. Peter Rabbit has always been one of my favorite books as well as my son’s and daughter’s. Thank you for being such a thoughtful person and sharing all these wonderful things with us.
Girlfriends forever
Sue in Fl.
OMGoodness!! Every time I hear that song – “When You Taught Me How To Dance” – it makes me cry!! Especially when looking at Hilltop at the same time!
I LOVE that you snuck (sneaked?) a couple of flowers from the garden! That sounds exactly like something I would have done! I LOVE the picture of the miniature BP book on the rock! Kind of like Jack, sneaking in! Wasn’t it from the movie, Amalie, that someone stole the garden gnome from someone’s garden, kept it a year, then returned it with pictures taken all over with the gnome in the pictures?
What a TREASURE the book is that you bought to give away!! The page you drew on looks a million times better with your additions!!!
Love from Mary S. in Fresno, CA (the late-to-bed person!)
Hi Susan 🙂
You are just the best girlfriend – thinking of us in such special ways while you were away – and now that you are home. So glad we’re friends! Hope you are enjoying some beach time with this lovely weather…..
We do walk down there every day, it’s just been beautiful!
Eeeeee!!! (That’s me screaching with excitement over the book!) I’ve enjoyed coming along on all of your England adventures!! Hope I get to go some day!
Thank you so much for taking us on your trip to England. I have enjoyed your posts and can only imagine how you felt while visiting Beatrix Potters home. The book is such a treasure! Thank you for sharing such a magical place with your fans.
Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful trip with us. Like most of us, I felt like I was right there with you exploring all the beauty of England. I have my own collection of Miss Potter’s books and I just love them. It always amazes me how much joy a person can get from books. Here’s a quote I have, framed in one of your borders, sitting on my bookshelf in my bedroom, by Virginia Woolf, “When the Day of Judgment dawns and people, great and small, come marching in to receive their heavenly rewards, the Almighty will gaze upon the mere bookworms and say to Peter, ‘Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them. They have loved reading.”
“They have loved reading!”
Thank you so much, Sue and Joe, for taking us all to England with you. It was a lovely trip and did make me want to go in person some day. Thank you also for thinking of us all as you traveled and bringing home a special treat. I know all of us would love to have it. I think we are all “winners” because we got to go with you!
Thank you Susan for taking us on your wonderous trip! I have enJOYed every moment of it and do hope the adventure continues with more thoughts and pix.
You have such a gift to make us feel as though we are right with you, tiptoeing along the garden paths with you, peeking over your left shoulder, and keeping watch behind to make sure we don’t get caught, and then strolling nonchalantly back out the garden gate with no no one the wiser that we have just swiped the floral equivalent of the Crown Jewels (in our eyes, anyway!). You teach me daily how to be a better and more thoughtful friend to my local girlfriends – what a blessing you are!
I have been enjoying your detailed highlights of England. Especially loved your sly moves on attaining the rose bud….laughed out loud! Thanks for the book contest!
Christine
Oh Susan, I got goosebumps from reading that you were giving a very lucky girlfriend such a treasure…and personalized by you, what a treat!
You are a peach yourself! So sweet for you to think of all of us. I will have to go out and buy whatever copy of Peter Rabbit I can find if I do not win after reading all your posts! If I do win….I have seven grands that I will be able to sit with and read from the book written by Beatrix Potter and signed by Susan Branch. Nothing better.
I know you’ve seen the old movie WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER—–oh, to return to England is a dream for me, I love England.
I collect the Beatrix Potter figurines—-love them, I have 50-60 of the old Beswick figurines…. I would love a copy of the Beatrix Potter book, visiting your blog everyday you traveled thru England was so enchanting, I am soooo looking forward to YOUR ENGLAND BOOK????
oh the book is lovely and I have so enjoyed your blog. Love beatrix potter and her whimsical look, if I should win it would be MOST wonderful. Sharon O
Thoroughly enjoyed your Englsh travelogue and lovely photos. What a wonderful holiday you shared with us!
Susan,
Thank you for always making my day a little brighter!
Hello everyone,
I have loved every minute of our journey together!! The keepsake to win would be the icing on the cake for any of us to win!! Heres to more trips in the future for us all!!
Have a wonderful day!
Peace,
Doreen
I’ll drink to that!
Oh my, the joys you have brought us through your words! A true fan for many, many years (I actually “stalked” you when visiting Martha’s Vineyard the week after Bunch of Grapes was damaged in the 4th of July fire 4 years ago – surely someone there would have known how best to get a Susan sighting!), and having always been delighted by your art I am equally delighted by your writing; your heartfelt accounts of visiting England have made my desire to visit that beautiful country even stronger. Thank you, thank you for sharing with us!
I was probably standing in the crowd, the one that was crying! What a terrible day that was, remember how hot, and then the big hole in Main Street? MUCH better this year!!! Thank you back Marian!
Susan,
Oh my goodness! What a delicious gift for someone to receive from you and Beatrix Potter! Oh! How I wish it would be for me, but whomever receives it, this will especially be something from the heart! Thank you for being you!!!
Hugs, Cocoa from San Diego
HI SUSAN, HAVE ENJOYED SO MUCH BEING A PART OF YOUR TRIP TO ENGLAND. COULD HARDLY WAIT FOR ANOTHER POST. I WENT OUT OVER THE WEEKEND AND BOUGHT MISS POTTER AND WATCHED IT AGAIN. WHAT A MARVELOUS LIFE SHE HAD AND SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE. THANKS AGAIN FOR SHARING YOUR TRIP.
Ooohhhh! I would so like to win this…….thank u for sharing ur England adventures. Since my children were little (40) yrs ago I’ve enjoyed Beatrix Potter…….I’ve enjoyed Beatrice even more through ur blog,willards,thanks again for sharing…:)
I so enjoy your writings and have especially enjoyed going to England with you. Thanks you!
Hello Susan,
I’m glad you made it back from your wonderful trip to England safe and sound, and are getting settled into your own lovely home and island. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us; it has been a joy to follow you throughout England. I traveled there with my mom, sister and aunt back in September; we even went to some of the same places you did! The most delightful one, as I know you will agree, was Hill Top Cottage. My aunt and I visited the town and her cottage on a misty, cloudy day. We loved exploring her house and especially her little vegetable garden. I love that the green garden gate, along with the white bee skep, is featured in the Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck. What a treat to flip through my books when I returned home and recognize some of the images and vistas! Thank you for helping me relive that wonderful day back in September.
Rebecca
Susan, Thank you for taking us on your wonderful trip. I thoroughly enjoy your stories, the music choices, your pictures and your art. It is fun to be included in your “family of girlfriends”.
Following your trip via your blog has been such fun. Almost like being there but seeing it through your eyes. Thanks so much for taking the time to do it. A real labor of love from you to us.
I love ALL of the England posts. I don’t want you to run out of pictures and stories to share with us!
I’ll just have to go somewhere else! But I have a lot left to show!
What a wonderful journey I have been on with you! You have actually helped solidify some of my plans for summer 2013 when my daughter and I will travel to England. I hope I am chosen, but have loved the view all the same!
Oh Susan, what a delightful trip it was! How it would thrill me to win this very special book with the added little delights! You make a happy world for all of us girlfriends! Many thanks!
Loved every minute of your trip Susan – thanks for taking us along w/ you. My Dad collects miniature books like this, so I will give it to him if I win – he will LOVE IT! 🙂
I have so enjoyed following your blog as you took us all on an enchanted trip through England. What a delightful way to travel–and I don’t even have a passport!! You have captured your adventure so delightfully well. I thought I should have made a cup of tea to drink while reading your posts to delight in the whole experience. Your special treasure would find a special place in my home and would be a treasured gift from a dear friend–a friend who took me on an all expense paid trip to England–as a stowaway!!
Oh, I have loved reading of your trip to England:) I dream of going, myself, within the next couple of years and I have been taking notes on things I “must see” while there. Your Beatrix Potter giveaway is magical and I would love to be entered in the drawing. Thank you so much for bringing us along on your journey.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful journey. I could almost almost smell the flowers and feel the mist along the way!
Susan, I hate to admit that I am mostly just a lurker on your blog (a loyal one, though:) … but I couldn’t resist posting for this! What a treat it was to check in on your travels every day… thank you for sharing your experiences in the old country and for the chance to win such a perfect memento!!
Sue, your excitement in planning this surprise for one of us actually has me teary-eyed. The dishwasher repairman is here and he probably thinks I’m nuts with my weepy eyes while reading your blog. 🙂 You’re a real sweetie to offer this very special one of a one, and oh my, how lucky one of us is going to be!!
Love it, the dishwasher man .. don’t scare him, you want him to STAY! 🙂
He stayed and fixed the dishwasher, and probably thought my tears were tears of joy! 🙂
LOL and they probably were! Partly at least!
When you taught me how to dance
Years ago with misty eyes
Every step and silent glance
Every move a sweet surprise.
Someone must have taught you well
To beguile and to entrance
For that night you cast your spell
And you taught me how to dance.
Like reflections in the lake
I recall what went before
As I give alone to take
And will be alone no more.
Other lights may light my way
I may even find romance
But I won’t forget that night
When you taught me how to dance.
Cold winds blow but up on those hills you find me
And I know you’re walking ’round behind me.
When you taught me how to dance
Years ago with misty eyes
Every step and silent glance
Every move a sweet surprise.
Someone must have taught you well
To beguile and to entrance
For that night you cast your spell
And you taught me how to dance
And you taught me how to dance.
Ohhhhhh… how precious and lovely. I am in awe of your adventures and your creative spirit, and appreciate more than I can say that you took us along with you on this trip of a lifetime. I can say without hesitation that no one could possibly cherish that book more than me! Love you, Sue!
Priceless! Who would not want a memento of “our” wonderous trip with you?
I have never been outside of the United States, and haven’t had any really strong desires to do so. But, after reading your blogs and seeing your pictures, I want to go to England, and I want to go badly. I forwarded your blog to friends and family asking if anyone wanted to go with me, because I have to go.
I hope that you have plans to publish your journal/diary…I would do almost anything to get my hands on a copy. I also have added several biographies to my reading list, because you have so inspired me.
Thank you for sharing your adventures with us!
What a delightful trip!! I look forward to each entry and long to go there one day. Beatrix Potter is a favorite of mine and my guest room has many of her creatures in it.
How wonderful to have this special book with a lamb you drew for us and the flower. Thank you so much of taking us along on your trip and bringing this back for one us. I loved the lambs most of all as I think of them when I think of England. It’s espically fitting to get this blog today as the sky here this afternoon looks very much like the first picture of Hill Top farm. I think we’re going to get another bad storm today. Plus my Peter Rabbit figures are sitting on the top of my desk watching me type this. I think they have been just as excited as I have been reading about your trip. Anyway good luck to whoever gets the book. It will be very special to them I’m sure.
Thank you ever-so -much for taking us along on your spectacular ocean voyage and journey through the English countryside. I never felt crowded in your luggage though I know there were untold numbers of girlfriends packed like sardines. As an elementary school librarian I was especially enamored by our visit to Hilltop Farm and I am so very glad you returned to see “Mr. McGregor’s Garden” even if it was in the rain. Wow, what a treasure the book will be to some lucky girlfriend!! I too have a miniature Tale of Peter Rabit book and it sits on a shelf with a lovely Miss Tiggy-Winkle figurine. Thanks again for sharing the experience of this wonderful adventure. I have treasured every minute of the journey with you and Joe!
ohhhh…Peter Rabbit has been my constant go to throughout my life when I needed cherring up, to escape the hurts of life, to remember to let my childlikeness win through and especially when my creative muse needed restoring. And reading the series again to my mom recently during her last days has made it even more special…needless to say I would love to have this book, and the fact that you have signed it…well words escape!
Thank you so much for the wondrous trip to England! I looked forward to and enjoyed every step of the journey. Seeing it through your eyes was a delight, and you have inspired me to someday see it for myself!
Oh my goodness, I’m crying. Literally crying. I believe that probably everyone who reads your blog is as enamored with these things you love just as much as I am and I will be most happy for whomever is lucky enough to have their name at the bottom of that little book, but when I read the line stating that you had one to share, it affected me so that I started to sob. AT WORK! What a fool I am! I’ve dreamed of visiting the U.K. and of a trip just as the one you’ve had. Thank you so much for sharing your visit with us and for letting me live vicariously through you and your stories. I so look forward to seeing and reading more!
Oh, I think the name “Lynn”, associated with so many towns in England and Wales, would look lovely on the page of that little book!
I am, after all, Mrs. Tittlemouse, as my husband’s nickname as a child was Little Tommy Tittlemouse!
We had a painting in our house called Little Tommy Tittlemouse. Of a house with a pond and a rocking chair … my brothers LOVED that painting … one of them has it, and I copied it for the other brother as he was bereft without it!!! Did your husband have that painting?
I have so enjoyed our trip to Jolly Old England! Thank you for bringing me along! Must go now…..it’s tea time!
Oh how I would love that book…I would treasure it always. What a wonderful idea for a give away! You are going to make someone a very happy person!!
Pick me! Halfway through I knew you were going to buy two. You’re clever like that. Love.
xoxo, on to me!
I have so enjoyed tagging along on this trip! I’m inspired to plan a pilgrimage along the same lines, perhaps with some Dickens thrown in for good measure! I’ve wanted to travel to the UK since I was a child, and your journal has brought me just about as close to that as I’ve been….so far!
It is simply lovely. I have so enjoyed your musings on your trip to England. Someday perhaps I can make the journey. Thank you so much for sharing your time and talent with us.
D
Thank you so much for your delightful tales of your trip to England! It is as though you wanted all of your “girlfriends” to be there with you… I would love to win this darling book. I have 3 Beatrix Potter figurines that I love so much. The book would be very “loved” at our house. Thank you again for your generous blog!
Oh to have a REAL copy of Peter Rabbit with a REAL cabbage rose (or whatever kind it is) and a REAL hand-drawn picture by our own Beatrix — Susan Branch. Please, please sign me up!
You’re a rascal to steal that rose, but I’d have done it too. Thank you for sharing your exploits with us. It’s been a real pleasure to “be there” with you.
Jody
I could hardly BREATHE when I read that you bought that precious book to give to some lucky girl! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. Someone is going to be soooo lucky! Oh how selfish I feel hoping that I’m the lucky one! How many fingers can one cross at the same time?!? Ha ha
I so enjoyed hearing about your England trip. I talk to my mom daily and we would chat about your blog as we are both from UK. We so enjoyed seeing the photos so we could both be swept back with you! One photo of an English was so lovely to see that I made it my desktop screen saver so I could enjoy it while you were away. Thank you for so eliquently describing your days and allowing us to go on vacation with you and Joe!
Susan,
You are too sweet! Love that you think of us and want to share the joy. I really felt the joy! It was lovely visiting Beatrice Potter’s garden again. Loved the painting you so generously made inside the book. I would love to be the winner, it would be my most treasured possession, I assure you!
You have most certainly inspired me with this Beatrice Potter visit. I had a delightful incounter with a squirrel recently in my own yard and this made me want to write it down and share it with my family. If I was the lucky winner of the Beatrice Potter book I would be so blessed, it could just give me the inspiration to write a wonderful story about the squirrel I met. Thank you for your daily inspiration Susan, you are such a treasure, you are my gift daily!
Debra
First let me say AAAHHHHHH!!!!!! Oh my gosh it would be SO awesome to have this!!!!
Just seeing this limited edition book, with a pressed flower from the very garden of Beatrix Potter herself gives me goose bumps! But then you ad your own beautiful art and hand written message to it….this is truly a one of a kind gift for a very lucky person! I am speechless.
OK now I can calm down and say:
I just want to say that this is the most thoughtful gesture. To be kind enough to take us along with you on your trip, and keep us updated with beautiful pictures and even MORE beautiful stories and narration is one thing, but this is just and amazing gift! To be so considerate as to keep us (your fans) in mind when you are in your happiest of places, well that just takes a very special person indeed. Thank you Susan Branch, for being that person.
Good luck to us all in the drawing! Fingers and toes crossed!
Love, Melissa Staas
p.s. I almost didn’t enter this drawing, because I NEVER win anything like this, seriously, its true! I once played bingo with maybe 15 other people (it was a free game with pretty neat prizes at a company picnic) for an hour and a half, and didn’t win a single game, hahaha. Oh well, you can’t win at ALL if you don’t try 😉
p.p.s. I LOVE the fact that you took the mini Peter Rabbit book with you!!!!! What a great idea! 🙂 You can just see how proud it is 🙂
Yes, you have nothing to lose!!! Isn’t that great?!
Thank you, thank you ! I have so enjoyed “our” trip!!! I would eagerly look for your posts everyday. The pictures, videos and music made me feel like I was right there with you. It would be lovely to be able to have a keepsake of the trip, but the memories alone are precious. I’ve begun watercolors of the sheep and lambs in the fields. My favorite. Thank you again for this wonderful virtual experience, now the techies just have to develop smell-a-vision so I could smell the beautiful cabbage roses at Hilltop Farm.
Eeeeekkkk! What a darling book. Is it weird that I am dreaming of England?
No, really, it’s normal! 🙂 We are the normal ones!
Oh, Susan, how thoughtful you are to bring something like that back for one of us. Of course I would love to have such a treasure but if I can’t I take great pleasure in knowing one of the other girlfriends will. Thank you for a few more tidbits on Hill Top Farm.
Hi Susan
I have never seen so many responses!!! oh my, we must all love the same thing:) The book will be for me if I win, and I sure hope I do. Address to deezie please:)
I love Beatrix Potter so much, I have a movie that starts out with a woman running through the rain and back to her cottage to write, it does turn into a cartoon soon after but its such a special movie to me. I only have it on a tape movie which is sad since I don’t have a VHS tape player anymore. Anyway. Happy day Susan, thanks for all the wonderful pictures you sent us.
deezie
I have been so happy to read your blog and go on adventures with you! I started buying your calendars when I was a teen and have purchased all your books over the years as well. Reading your blog just makes me so happy!
I just want to hop on a plane & go to Hill Top Farm & see the beauties there. To visit the Beatrix Potter home – so special! You made it feel so close. Almost like Mary Poppins, just wanted to jump through my computer screen & be there!!! My grand daughter especially loves the collection of her books & I love to read them to her. Definitely on my bucket list!!! Thanks so much for sharing with us!
I loved the posts before when you visited Hill Top Farm . . . . I love visiting there again! Your idea for a ‘girlfriend gift’ is lovely. Thank you for the opportunity to be in the drawing!
Your adventure drew me back to reading the little books that I read to my children. My favorite book is The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin. We raised over 50 orphaned squirrels and returned them to the wild. So many stories of our little squirrels and often thought of writing a booklet about our experience. Thank you for the experience and glimpse into the English countryside you gave to us all.
You didn’t keep just one?
No once you see how beautiful each one is you just want them to find their mate. Until they mature, they come to you each day and meet you when you come home from work. Sad when they no longer meet you at the door but happy they have become what God intended them to be, wild squirrels.
Following your trip through England has made me feel like I actually went myself; a great diversion while at work! And I learned a lot too! THANK YOU VERY MUCH for allowing us to share your trip with you.
Very welcome Kathy!
I have always love everything Beatrix Potter. Thanks for sharing all the great photos and stories of your trip. It feels like was there with you!
Love your excitement…..it makes me so happy to see someone take such pleasure and joy from life. Keep sharing the joy…thank you!
I’m struck by your generosity.
What a wonderful gift this will be for someone! You are so thoughtful to pick up some souvenirs for us. I still have the entire collection of Beatrix Potter books that my father bought for my oldest daughter – I am now inspired to pull them out and re-read them! Thank you. Martha… from Connecticut
Welcome home, Susan!
I followed you with delight on your recent trip and of all the places you visited I was most interested in Beatrix Potter’s home. “Peter Rabbit” was my fave book as a little girl. Once I became a kindergarten teacher, I shared my love of all things Beatrix Potter with my little students. This book, with your inscription, would be so cherished! I so hope it finds a loving home.
Jerri Ellen Wheeler
San Juan Capistrano, CA
Oh, my! A ltd. edition, no less! How wonderful to be the lucky one to win ~
Oh my goodness!!! What a perfect surprise!!! 🙂 I was so thrilled with every word of your second trip to the cottage that I never saw that one coming!! 🙂 I have thoroughly enjoyed this trip to England with you Susan! Thank-you! (Oh! and I would have done the same with the rose! hee hee….)
Kelly
I’m glad, I like to surprise people! 🙂
You have made this adventure so exciting for all of us! Thank you for taking us “along”. I’m so glad you returned and brought home these treasures.
Thank you Susan for taking us all along to England. Such a treat each time I check for a new post. The Beatrix Potter ones are the best. That book jacket! Egad would I love to have some fabric of that design. But I will be happy with your diary to come and be VERY happy for whoever is lucky enough to receive this adorable book :-). Thank you Susan.
p.s. I made that white bean salad for Scrabble night and it was a BIG HIT.
Sylvia
Oh my goodness, I can ONLY hope that this treasure could be mine. Thank you so much for your travel blog – I have enjoyed it so much and long so for England now myself. Still hoping to get over there this year with my husband on business – I have my fingers crossed. And if I do, I promise to retrace your footsteps….to at least one or two of the spots you showed us! Happy Summer and Welcome Home!
I do love my bunnies. I have the girls, but not Peter. I will keep looking. My son and my niece each had a stuffed Peter.
I wish I had more bees in my garden. We had a bee theme going when the boys were little. Bee yourself…Bee proud…Bee nice, etc. LOL
That book has a beautiful dust jacket. Do you think that dust jackets could ever be made of fabric in those days??? I saw 18th Century wallpaper here in the states that seemed to be a printed fabric. History is so interesting when one can get out of the textbooks and see the real things.
Oh yes, that dust jacket was actually a copy of real fabric that was used on some first editions of Beatrix Potter’s book!
To visit Hilltop has always been a dream- but to now have visited it “with” you has been pure magic. My socks have been twirled and then some! Thank you so much for taking us with you ~ it was the best… trip… ever!
What a wonderful gift!! You are such a kind, thoughtful, giving person. How lovely of you to get a book and a rose for a lucky, very lucky girlfriend. Pick me, pick me! Whoever wins is going to be so fortunate. I’ll be thrilled for them! Thank you for being who you are innovative, beautiful, creative, and loving!
My grandkids love these stories and we read them every time they come to visit.
Susan~
It has been so wonderful being a part of your adventures! Beatrix Potter holds such a special place in my heart, as do you…seems providential that you would love her so much! 🙂
My seven year old daughter just watched Miss Potter with me and ADORED it! So much so, that we have also had many turns of “When You Taught Me How to Dance” in the kitchen and she is now illustrating pictures of our kitty “Black Jack”! It is so fun to see the kindle of inspiration. Speaking of inspiration, did I mention that I named one of my boys Benjamin… 😉
Thank you for being such a kindle in my life as well! May the path always rise to meet you, and many thanks for sharing sooooo much of you with us…
Don’t you just adore the way children take in inspiration? Beautiful to see!
Thank you so much for taking us along for a wonderful trip–I could not wait each day to open the site to see beautiful photos of England, gardens, stores,etc–I want to go there now–our next trip will be England–thanks Susan for sharing your trip with us. Nina
Oh how exciting this would be! Two of my very favorite author/illustrators in one object! I have really loved this series you did and so enjoyed every entry. Thank you so much for doing it for us.
Hello Susan,
I have enjoyed our trip to England. Thank you for all your pictures and tales along the way. If I should be lucky enough to win the BP book I will treasure it always.
Love, Mary Ann
Oh how very special
I have to tell you that my friend in N.Yorkshire doesn’t often open his garden to the public because people take cuttings of his plant when they think no one is looking! (Or even if someone IS looking!) This came to mind when I saw the rose…I LOVED Hilltop, too, but it was PACKED with Japanese tourists when I was there- the guide books that were for sale were only in English and Japanese! I did buy a large “coffe table Nat’l Trust book on Beatrix Potter and Hilltop.
I think I might have gotten the same book, so glad I did. We were lucky both times, not too many people around, although Ambleside was really busy.
I never tire of such Beauty and Gloriosity.
🙂
THANK YOU again and again !
🙂 I am with you!
Loved the trip blog, Susan. Glad you’re home though, because Martha’s Vinegard missed you, I am sure. The Beatrix Potter book is a charmer. It ‘twould go so perfectly in my guest room, which is a bunny room. Way too sweet…and the purloined flower is a nice touch. Take care, and enjoy the summer there in MV.
Your bees are “squidgy” in the lavender ?! Perfect description! Oh to draw and describe the way you do! Thanks for the cozy trip. All my Beatrix Potter best to you,
Susan