Guess what tomorrow is??? Beatrix Potter’s 151st Birthday! MUSICA 🎶 And I have news!
The Genius, Generous, Life of Beatrix Potter.
Here’s where I was on this day, July 28, last year, celebrating the 150th Birthday of Beatrix Potter with so many of YOU and the Brewster Ladies Library, on Cape Cod. What a fun day that was!
Right after that, my Girlfriends, who also happen to be my nun friends (I’ve written about them before), sent me this wonderful little thimble to celebrate. Wasn’t that the sweetest thing? They love Beatrix like I do.💞
Because not all of you are intimately familiar with the life of Beatrix, I thought I’d at least give you a very simple time-line of her life so you can get the lay of the land, so to speak.
Most of you know how crazy I am about Beatrix because I wrote the whole story of my slow discovery of the person that she was, not just an artist, not just a scientist, not just an author, not just a business woman, not just a house-lover and adorer such as we, but more, so much more, a fierce, forward-looking conservationist whose passions still reverberate today ~ she changed her part of the world, and hence, in a sense, the whole world. . . that’s the hero I tried to tell about in my book A Fine Romance, Falling in Love Love Love, with the English Countryside.
So, to celebrate today, I thought I would take you on a special tour through a brilliant book about Beatrix that was published by Penguin Books in 2006. It’s written just as if it was Beatrix’s own scrapbook, in first person. But inside it says, “This is a work of fiction based on the journals and letters of Beatrix Potter.” Not entirely fiction, but kind of, because Beatrix didn’t actually make this book herself, it just looks like she did.
Using Beatrix’s words to tell the story of her life, the designer who compiled this informative book (who is not mentioned anywhere, but must be a kindred spirit, and girl after our own heart), filled it with Beatrix Potter artwork, mementoes, personal letters, stamps, and photos, and with words in what looks to be Beatrix’s own handwriting, with entries dated, as in a journal … and many of the things in the book, like the little photo album above, are glued-in and three-dimensional! I’m not kidding! Books like this don’t come along every day! Unless you make one yourself!
Pure charm, filled with pressed flowers and wonderful old photos, that’s Norman Warne there …
Above are glued-in “proofs” of the pictures for her first book. There’s even a real envelope that opens and inside you can pull out a perfect copy of the famous letter she wrote to Noel, her governess’s child, illustrating the story of Peter Rabbit for the first time on paper.
And on this page, an illustrated map of the Lake District unfolds … I could put ten exclamation marks after every page!!! Books aren’t usually made this way!!!!!!
Then, at the end, just when you think you’ve seen it all, and you are already sighing because you don’t want it to end, you find an amazing surprise embedded in the inside of the back cover. See the little ribbon? “Hmmmm,” you say to yourself, “What’s that?”
At first you don’t see it, but then, with a little tug, an invisible door opens . . .
and inside is an exact copy of Peter Rabbit that Beatrix had printed herself after having been rejected by publishers. (This was a very brave thing for her to do, considering women’s “place” at the turn of the century, but only the beginning when it comes to the bravery of Miss Potter). If you ever need a hero that will help you be brave, I suggest you read the biography of Beatrix Potter by Linda Lear. Forevermore, after that, you will say to yourself, “If she can do it, so can I.”
Her first printing, in black and white to keep down costs. A totally delightful surprise! I have to say, I think I might be forced to paint inside these little line drawings!
But you can do what you want when you get your hands on this little jewel, because, to celebrate the 151st birthday of my hero, Beatrix Potter, this book, and the book where I wrote about sailing the wild and windy Atlantic, then trekking across England in order to fulfill a long-time dream to finally walk through the doors of Beatrix Potter’s house at Hill Top in the Lake District ~ will both become the property of one of YOU darling people. Just leave your name at the bottom of this post, click on the tiny word that says “comments,” and leave a few words … and in a wee bit o’ time, we’ll draw a name and see who these books get to go home with. Happy Birthday, dear Beatrix. We will never forget you! 💞
One other thing . . . you remember the picnic we had last year in Stourhead, Wiltshire, England? Of course you do! And you remember how it happened? Well, just in cases, I’ll tell you again: When we knew we were going over to England last year, I wrote here on my blog, “Joe and I will be in the park at Stourhead, having a picnic, at 12 noon on September 18, and we would LOVE anyone who’s going to be in the neighborhood to BYO Picnic Basket and come join us and say hello!” We had no idea what to expect. Would anyone come? Might there be seven people? Could there be fifty? No idea.
As it turned out, there were sixty of us kindred spirits spread out on the lawn on a lovely spring day, next to a 12th century stone church, in a garden designed by Capability Brown over 200 years before, with the sun weaving in and out of the clouds . . .
And we had a wonderful, joyful afternoon, sitting, laughing and talking and getting to know each other, marveling over the unlikelihood of this happening at all … it was really a thrill. Lots of people from the US, lots from England, some Americans who now live in England, and others from Europe . . . a surprise and so perfect, I still live in the glow of it. People brought things, like gorgeous quilts they’d made, or their own Petey dolls, or their children, and lots of delicious lunches … and I signed books, and we had a great day.
We took a “class picture,” and I think you can tell by the smiles what a wonderful time we were having. “We all kept saying, we need to do this again!” Well, dear hearts, we are going to do it again . . . we’ll be taking the picture for Class of 2018 next year on May 11, and we hope you can come, wherever you are! But this time, we’re be having our picnic someplace else … so if you want to come . . .
You will have to drive through countryside like this . . . sorry, but you have to!
Where oh where are we going . . . ? ? ? It’s a mystery! MAS MUSICA ~ we loved playing Vera Lynn in our car while we drove through the English Countryside . . .
Past lakes with swans and and wildflowers, pulling over at a pub for an icy Peah Cid-ah . . . it’s a tough job but someone has to do it!
In May, hillsides of English Bluebells will be in bloom!
You’ll have to meander between narrow hedgerows speckled with cow parsley, watching for bunnies, rolling down your windows to hear the wood pigeons coo, “My toe huts Bet-tee … “
Past curving rock walls and gingerbread stone cottages . . . can you guess where we’re going yet? You probably can, but you probably can’t believe it! Me either!
Almost there ~ must go through bunting-decked villages where the buildings look as if they’re covered in frosting … oh darn.
The frosting makes them shine from the hill sides . . . you’ll be stopping to get your camera out.
Because you’ll be marveling over handmade chimney tops and slate roofs like these . . .
. . . as you drive past hillsides with cows and lambs and sparkling lakes, turn off your car to hear the wind through the trees . . .
. . . and through the hedges of wild roses and rhododendrons. But, a hint: Before you go, you’ll probably want to read this wonderful little book . . .
For inspiration. ❤️ Squealing yet?
Because, Yes! OMG, I’m not kidding! Where we’re going to have our picnic is totally impossible, it can’t happen, but it is and it can . . .
We’re having our BYO Picnic Basket Party right here, next May 11, at Castle Cottage, where Beatrix Potter (Mrs. Heelis) and her husband William lived for 30 years! Just in front of the house, across Post Office Meadow (which will be filled with frolicking lambikins in May), is the gate to Hill Top in Near Sawrey, heavenly Lake District, beloved home of Beatrix Potter!!! That’s where we’re going, Girlfriends!
And here’s a preview ~ this photo is actually from inside Castle Cottage, sent to me by my friend Mandy, showing the wonderful view over rooftops of Near Sawrey (with Mandy’s Ollie Dog in attendance) . . . From here, you can see the famous Tower Bank Arms and the entrance to Hill Top ~ the very same view that Beatrix had. For us. Us us us us us! We get to go go go!!!
Here’s how this miracle happened, . . . As you may remember, I was asked to speak at Beatrix’s 150th Birthday Party last year by Betsy Bray of the Beatrix Potter Society (are you 
a member? I love the wonderful newsletter I receive from England, and their luv-lee E-Newsletter called Pottering About) ~ that’s Betsy on the left . . . she and I have kept in touch, and a couple of weeks ago, she came to lunch and brought her friend Mandy Marshall, who just happens to LIVE in Castle Cottage (shaking head in disbelief) . . . and we started talking and our talking turned to plotting and then it turned to planning and I just heard from Mandy yesterday that she would love to have us for our picnic there (she opens the house only by special arrangement, which this is!), and Betsy wrote to say she’d be there too! So now, we’re inviting you! And if you CAN’T get over there in person, that’s okay, because we will take so many photos you will think you’ve been there! That’s a promise!
Happy Birthday Beatrix Potter!
Love you dears, leave a comment to win the books, and mark your calendars for May 11, 2018! Oh! I almost forgot, the cups! They are in LA, sort of stuck in a mire of Homeland Security (very dangerous cups) and Customs. We call, we holler, they ignore us, but it should be soon now. 💞 Bye for now! xoxo
What a lovely and kind giveaway! Still have the Beatrix Potter books inscribed to me by my grandmother. “The Tale of Samuel Whiskers” was always my sister’s and my favorite.
I have a few of the little figurines – NOT so easy to find! Love this post, thank you. Hope I win sometime. Take care!
And when you do find them, they are often $300 … I always look for them when we travel … and if I find one that is anywhere in the realm of reasonable, I get it and send it to Kellee so she can put it in the vintage part of our web store. They are even more expensive in England! I thought they might be a dime-a-dozen over there, but not so!
Sounds like a wonderful trip!
Oh this is beautiful and so exciting indeed! A picnic in England in lakeshore England with beautiful people in memory of incredible people! Too good to be true!
Happy Birthday Beatrix!! I so admire Beatrix’s life, and what a thought to be able to have gone on a walk with her in the Lake District! I love reading about her and would enjoy reading your book too!
Carrie
I have such wonderful memories of reading all of Beatrix’ little books to my two sons when they were young…and now my grandchildren listen to the same timeless stories.
I came to “know” you….when I went into a scrapbook store YEARS ago. I discovered your artwork and the rest is history. I’ve also come to appreciate (through your posts) your zeal for life and love of people. You are a joy! Thanks for the opportunity to become the new owner of these 2 amazing books. Have a great summer and trip to England! ❌⭕️
I love Beatrix Potter SO MUCH that I named my Pug puppy…
Beatrix Potter Pug!!!
Love you Susan! Love Beatrix! You make the world better … ❤️
What a wonderful way to start the day…..you give us so much with your
keen sense of how life should be lived….happy, positive and adventuresome!!!!
Dear Susan,
Every time I read your blog and see your drawings and your photos, I feel like I’m right with you enjoying all the beauty that comes with your blog, and I can leave the stresses of life behind for a little while. I would love this book and just enjoy dreaming about owning all of them. Last week I went into a secondhand store and in the children’s books I was checking out for my 4 and 8 year old grandchildren was your book “Vineyard Seasons”, copyright 1988! Of course, I bought it — my first one to own by you. I couldn’t believe I could have one! I got to watch a movie made about Beatrix Potter and loved it and admired her for how she lived her life and admire you and Joe for yours, from your home to your travels and sharing with all of us. As someone already wrote, I’d love to be at the picnic but will look forward to the blog and pictures. Thank you for a great day! Love and blessings, Karen
What a great giveaway!!! Would love to see you write another book of your travels in England. I never tire of looking thru or rereading “A Fine Romance”. Your pictures and words really capture the beauty of that Island. Ready for part 2!!
Oh…. yes, please!!! I would love this book!
Happy birthday Beatrix! Would love to have these delightful books!💕
Oh my, I do enjoy reading your blog. Some blogs I glance over quickly and go on to the next. But, when I see that you have a new posting, it’s time to sit down, get comfortable and enjoy the ride. It is always a pleasure whether you are walking the lane to the beach or exploring the byways of England. The discussion of Beatrix Potter is a pleasure. I enjoy her little books but your writing brings to mind my friend, Dorothy. She passed away in June (91 years old) but she loved history and had joined a watercolor class about 5 years ago. She wrote her memories as stories to share with her family and illustrated them with wee drawings – yes, she was a Beatrix Potter fan! The Potter drawings inspired her as she worked on her drawings and sketches. She also decorated eggs with little drawings and sold them at a local art fair in the spring. She made birthday cards for family and friends and featured drawings of woodland creatures. And, of course, I shared your books with her and she so enjoyed your art. So, I lift my cup in salute to you and to Dorothy.
The Beartrix Potter Journal would be a joy to own. What fun it is to turn the page to see more writing but also hidden treasures and foldout pages. I have the Fairyopolis book about Cicely Mary Barker but to see that Beatrix Potter book would be quite the thrill.
I’m there with you, here’s to Dorothy! xoxo
OHHHHH!!! This is amazing! I can almost taste the cucumber sandwiches now! My heart says, “GO!” and I’m marking the calendar for May 11, 2018, and then one of my favorite movie scenes from “Moonstruck” pops in my head – when Cher slaps Nicholas Cage’s face and says, “SNAP OUT OF IT!” Ha! But at least you’ve got my wheels turning. Actually, the seed I’m going to plant in your head is that YOU should have a picnic on the lawn of YOUR home and we can all scratch Jack’s ears and ooh and ahh at your picket fence garden that we’ve all been seeing for years, stare up at the sky and find shapes of Timmy Tiptoes, Squirrel Nutkin, and Jeremy Fisher in the clouds and sit on quilts and listen to your stories that never, ever grow old, soak in the laughter of kindred spirits and say to each other, “Why, thank you, yes, I’d love another cookie!” Martha’s Vineyard has been my dream trip since the late 80s when my sister said, “Have you heard of Susan Branch? You will love her books” and she was right because we all know that big sisters are never wrong! So now I have all sorts of lovely possibilities bouncing in my head and once again it is all because of you. You dare us to dream. XXO
Ha ha ha! I do that “snap out of it” thing all the time, Teresa! 😜 I think with Joe and me, I am so out there, writing, Tweeting, and blogging, that we try to keep a little corner of the world, more or less, just for us. Which is why we go out to see everyone! Even when we’re traveling, I love to blog about it, but there’s a corner we save for just us. 💞
And well you should, but I’m still going to imagine it! Haha 🙂 I know I would feel the same way and you have been more than generous with sharing your life. I guess it was my way of saying that I truly think you are the Beatrix Potter of our time! My sister and I have marked the calendar for May 11, 2018 – a road trip for a picnic! Our last sister-weekend was to Apple Farm to see you! XXO
This will be bigger! How fun, I’m so glad to hear that Teresa … like if you build it (thank you Beatrix) they will come! Imagining is free and far-ranging and a wonderful gift of life! Now we have something wonderful to look forward to for a full 9 months!!!
Dear Susan, Wow. Really wonderful things to look forward too. Are you ready for your relatives? Who gets the Pee-tah room? Debby
Not ready! Must run and go work on that very thing. But close, we are going to have such a wonderful time! I think I’ll make them flip for it!
Susan, please will you tell us about the silent auction when you know. I am dying to know EVERYTHING about it. I know exactly what I would do.😬
It’s soon … here’s the information…it’s not really a silent auction, but you can call to find out how to bid from far away (unless you’re here!).
I enjoyed reading your informative post commemorating Beatrix Potter’s birthday! I too enjoy her writings and illustrations. I would be most happy to be the recipient of these lovely books about her life.
It looks like a fabulous book!!!
How dear your blog is to me! My day is always brighter after reading one of your posts, and, like you, I am an avid Anglophile. How I long to be in England! Thank you so much for sharing the joy and beauty of your travels at home, across the country, and abroad. You are truly a treasure!
I will be there in spirit for your picnic and await the wonderful pictures.
Hi Susan!
Oh, how I love the story of your picnic! It looked like a wonderful time. I’ve never been to England, but you really made it come alive for me through your book, A Fine Romance, which I stumbled over in the library when I was searching for books about England’s countryside. I loved it, and that lucky discovery led me right here to your blog. Maybe I’ll get to join everyone at the next picnic–that would be fun.
You are truely Blessed and your enthusiasm can bring me out of the doldrums. I have not read the biography but I read “Two Bad Mice” to my grandson. We both get a kick out of it. We recently saw a ballet production of the story. If you haven’t seen that, you must. It is hilarious!
Oh my gosh, love Beatrix Potter!! I started a collection of Beatrix Potter items
for my granddaughters, my first two purchases from your
website Susan. I think my one whose 11 would enjoy the movie,
I’ll have to watch it with her soon. Thanks for the reminder
of how truly wonderful she is … reminds me of you . 🙂
Beatrix & You…perfect pair…what Grand surprises! Ones now & Ones to look forward to. I just finished reading “Still Life” by Louise Penny & now you have inspired me to dig out my Beatrix Potter books. Our Grans are coming on Sunday to spend a week & help completely gut and remodel our daughter Traci n’ son inlaw Mikey’s bathroom. Traci designed the powder bath we call The Train Room that has all the amazing Train décor in it. Welp, wait till y’all see this! No, it’s not Beatrix Potter…Welp, already in jammies…shortie nightshirt of Hello Kitty on the beach. In the cutest striped bathing suit & huge shades. Hello Kitty, not me. 🙂 off to make a cup of Sleepy Time Tea…Catch Y’all on Twitter.XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Wow! what a beautiful journal, and how amazing that you and your friends can get to picnic at Castle Cottage. Just wonderful. Love your blog posts (all of them). Thank you for sharing these lovely jewel like moments in your life with us.
Good golly Susan! You are a beacon for beautiful and magical things to happen! And deservedly so! You give so much to so many of us that this outstanding opportunity coming your way in England is your time to be on the receiving end! Whenever I read your blog, I am swept away by your joyful appreciation of life and I’m able to dream of things otherwise unlikely in my life. Thank you for that!!
Reading your comments, and all of these from our Girlfriends, does the same for me … sweeps me away reading the joyful appreciation of life, the dreams that everyone writes of. It’s a wonderful thing, what we have here. xoxoxo
Tomorrow our family is moving into a house that is 160 years old. It was a preteen when Beatrix was born! How fun to be moving on a special day. Thanks for sharing.
Happy moving day Meg!
What a wonderful giveaway!
Since you love old books, and you love all things English, I think you would like the book “Set in Silver” by A.M. and C.N. Williamson. It’s a lovely romance that takes place on a tour of England. I wish I had a second copy to send you!! My brother found my copy at a garage sale. It’s a treasure I’m not willing to part with. 🙂
After perusing Amazon, looking for the book, I can see why you won’t part with your copy. Good thinking! I know I would love it…I’ll be looking for it in my wanderings through used bookstores! Love having a quest! Thank you Mary Ann!
I can’t believe how everything aligned so that you will be in her house! I think Beatrix herself may have had something to do with this. ☺️
That’s the part that I can’t believe. I know the fairies of the future have known this would happen all along, have been putting all the pieces together so that it would, but when the page turns, and it’s my turn to find out, it’s almost shocking! In the most wonderful way. I couldn’t WAIT to tell you! Life unfolds, like a box of chocolates, “we never know what we are going to get!”
Reading this post, listening to the music and enjoying your photos was pure escape! How refreshing to be reminded of England’s beauty and the good things that can come from following your heart. Thank you.
Hi Susan!! I remember Beatrix’ 150th birthday last year, as I was in the audience in Brewster and so loved meeting you ! I would so love to have this wonderful Beatrix book to add to my collection of Beatrix potter items and books. She has always been a hero of mine and I have always wished I could draw and paint as she did. I am an artist but not with paper and pens and paint. Her environmental awareness has inspired me even more!!
Thank you for yet another wonderful post!!
My sister and I visited Hill Top 10 years ago – our first big trip together across the pond. We still talk about it. Our favorite stop was Hill Too. It’s truely a magical place where her spirit and all she believed in lives on.
I was out with my best friend of 45 years on Wen and we found little Beatrix Potter figurines in a small cabinet in one of the stores. I was telling my friend about you and how much you loved them! Also, a couple of weeks ago my husband and I were coming home from Disneyland and we were driving by the Madonna Inn and he was telling me how different and much more fun it was waiting in line with me to meet you for 3 hours to sign your new book a few years ago! What a generous giveaway!! xo
Ahhhh, the memories! xoxo
What a lovely day for a picnic it will be! I’ve never been to England, could next year be my year? Hmmm….
Pick me! Pick me!
Oh happy day! Wouldn’t it be lovely? I will start dreaming of being there and at the picnic now.
Hello Susan, I am just back from visiting my family in Yorkshire and Devon. My sister goes to the Lake District two or three times each year, I haven’t been in a while but love to hear about your visit there and how very much it is in your heart. Beatrix was the name of my paternal Grandmother, what could be better. Thank you for another lovely blog.
What a lovely birthday tribute! Will miss the picnic by one month, will be there in June!
What a wonderful book- a little like the flower fairy books by Cicely Mary Barker! The English are always so clever and talented..
Please put my name down for the books!
Looking forward to your next trip- I loved the Highclere story and pics.
:o)
As I am right in the middle of the Linda Lear biography (at your suggestion) I would be so tickled to win! Fingers crossed. *Mary*
I would love to return to the English countryside. I haven’t been there since I went to college for a semester in London. I love all the literary places.
Beatrix Potter was our favorite. I would act out the stories with my children.
Samuel Whiskers was one of our most cherished characters.
Jane Austen is another one easy to follow over there, and so worth the time, beautiful house and museum ~ and even the village where it is, Chawton. There are so many! These literary places make the whole trip a learning adventure.
Your photos are such a delight and, oh my, how I would so love to win the books. I’ve coveted this particular BP book but can never quite find the copy I want…used in very good condition would make me happy but all I can seem to find is used-good/acceptable with understandably, well, a lot of use and/or previous owner’s highlights, etc. (I want to selfishly make my OWN highlights should I choose to do so!). A new copy of her journal (this book you feature), if you can locate one, is generally out-of-this-world expensive. So, how generous of you…super-generous…to part with this book and, by the way, congrats for the upcoming 2018 picnic location; in my dreams, if I could just BE THERE but yes, you’ll take us along as you sweetly and thoroughly do (so that we don’t feel left out!), and it’ll be heavenly. Thank you, Susan!
I wish we could take everyone, basically by wiggling our nose like in Bewitched. But we are so lucky to have this way of communication, to share, so we all feel like we’re in it together. xoxoxo
Oh my goodness!!! I already own these two books and I just loaned them to my new girlfriend and Beatrix Pottter lover so if I win I will give them to her!! Good luck to all and thank you so much Susan!
so lovely. I have loved Beatrix Potter as well. and I loved loved loved your English journey diary SO MUCH. borrowed it interlibrary loan. still have it next to my bed before returning it to the library. because I intend to travel to England myself at some point I decided I needed to purchase my own copy. so many of the places you visited I have wanted to visit as well. I would LOVE to be chosen as the recipient of the lovely books you are offering. blessings.
Wishing to be at Hill Top Cottage Lawn Party … May 2018! Susan, your life is truly a dream! The book is straight from the heart of Beatrix Potter. Surely someone can discover who wrote it and put it together … you, Susan?
What a dream of a book and a dream of a post! Ahhhh, going to England and walking the trails of our beloved Beatrix and picnicking on an old, soft quilt with so many Beatrix and Susan fans! That would indeed be a dream come true!
A lovely post for a very lovey woman…Happy Birthday Beatrix!
Susan,
Your blog brings such joy. Thank you for sharing. So looking forward to having tea in my new autumn mug.
Hugs,
MaryEllen
Please don’t pick me because I have both of these wonderful books!!! But I am planning to be in England in May next year, it is our favorite place to travel and we go at least once every year. So now I am thinking we need to visit the Lake District again and be part of your party!!! What a wonderful gift that would be. Thank you, thank you. I love Beatrix as well, I have read the biography, it is wonderful. Also have taken a few of the walks from that sweet little book the last time we were in the Lakes. Such fun, I kept thinking I was walking in Beatrix Potters steps. She was the best.
You can’t help but think about walking in her steps when you are there, because there is no doubt at all that you are! Hope to see you there Sonja!
What a wonderful little book. I LOVE journals, especially the kind this one is, filled with all sorts of little surprises! I have kept journals all my life, and try to remember to put little “treats” in them. It would be a delight to be chosen for this Beatrix Potter journal! Anyone we just love it.
I love looking at all the England photos. Hopefully one day I will get there, but in the mean time, I will never tire of ooohing and awing over your pics! How exciting that you will be going back next spring!
So many good things in this post! I am reading her books to my children. I started yesterday. And next on my list is the Linda Lear book. That journal looks amazing. Im learning more everyday about Beatrix Potter and she is amazing!!
That countryside is almost too pretty to believe. Something out of a storybook.
How honored and blessed we are to be able to travel with you through pictures.
You yourself are an amazing writer, storyteller and you would make Beatrix Potter proid. You’d be kindred spirits. ❤
P.s yes it would be lovely to win those books. Yes squealing will ensue. 😄
Susan, you bring such a bright light to a sometimes difficult world. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if someday you are remembered and honored even as Beatrix Potter is. Thank you for taking us with you on your amazing travels, and sharing your colorful joy-filled thoughts. You create happiness! (And I would love to be the name drawn for those happiness-filled books!)
Thank you for the kind words Kelly …. your name is entered!
Thank you for taking us to England with you last time…A Fine Romance is a gift that keeps giving to me! I’m so looking forward to the trip next spring!!! Happy Birthday to Beatrix!
Susan,
Wishing you a wonderful trip. Wishing me a new book or two. 🙂
Dear Susan, lovely, lovely blog and contest. What an honor it would be to own these two books. I found a Wedgwood mug in an antique shop with 2 illustrations and the first line from The Tale of Peter Rabbit on it. It sits over my sink and I think of you every time I look at it.
Thank you for all the beauty. gmapat
Count me in! Love your post!
Susan – you always give me such a lift by writing about the things you love and it makes me love them too! Have a fun picnic dear friend.
What delightful news … all of it!!! Books! Miss Potter! Picnics! Girlfriends! Hooray!
Susan,
yes it would be my pleasure to leave a comment. you are very fortunate to be able to travel to the English countryside to lake district and have a picnic with kinder Beatrix potter lovers -good for you! !the rest of us will have to enjoy this through your beautiful blog. please enter me into the drawing.
Thanks,
Denise
What a delightful giveaway – count me in! 🙂
How’d I’ve love to attend your picnic, Susan! Anything is possible, so you never know. Absolutely love the look of the Beatrix Potter journal. Thanks for another heartwarming and inspiring blog post. Natalie xx PS. Are there any other Australian girlfriends out there? Just curious, I’m sure I can’t be the only one!
Oh yes, there are . . . we get to talk about your opposite seasons … let’s see if any of them see your comment! Long ride from Australia to Hill Top, but I like your thinking, anything is possible!
What a lovely surprise. A picnic at Castle Cottage. I will be there in spirit and watching for your pictures and wonderful comments. Please show us the painting you do around the black and white illustrations in the Peter Rabbit book.
Greetings Susan,
I do so love your blog..It is one “Big Joyous Adventure.” Much like Beatrix Potter’s books reveal!
blessings to you!
I would LOVE LOVE to have that book.
By the way have you heard of Acorn TV or Brit Box they are so much fun if you like anything English. The are a streaming
TV channels. All kinds of programs, even a house hunters in the country. Looking inside those cute little cottages. Oh and I love your blog.
I have Acorn … you’re so right, it’s wonderful!
That book looks absolutely amazing! I got my daughter one in her Nancy Drew days that was similar with envelopes to open and little treasures throughout, but this looks even grander! I love Beatrix – read her books to my kids with great delight and loved the movie Miss Potter. I am going to track down that biography and read it!
I have to say I teared up to read about that picnic and know I couldn’t go because that would be a standout day of a lifetime! But I look forward to reading about it someday and enjoying it vicariously.
I’ll make sure you get all the little details Jan!
WHAAAT???? 😬 You are truly living the life of a Fairytale Girl!!! My Fairytale Guy drive to Asheville last June, a 12hr trip, so that I could meet you but, I don’t think I’ll be able to convince him to take me to the picnic next May 😟 I’m thrilled for you and thankful that you always take us along!! And that Beatrix Potter book!! Oh my… how adorable❣️ Would be honoured to win it but if not where can we purchase one?
They are no longer in print, but you can try to find a used one, via Amazon or eBay … xoxo
Inspired again by your blog. Never fails. You are so appreciated.
😘
What a delightful post! I would love to join you next year at the picnic! In my dreams of course. I would BYOH though, bring my own hamper! Looking forward to all your pictures.
Thank you for the generous and lovely giveaway.
Hamper! Yes! I should have remembered!
This book/scrapbook would be wonderful to learn more about Beatrix Potter! Looks like a fun read!
Happy heavenly birthday Beatrix. Susan, your books and drawing remind me of Beatrix’s works. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I have a book just like this done from Christopher Robin’s perspective – his scrapbook on Winnie the Pooh, done from the same company that published yours. I’d love to get a copy of it! Wish I could go to England to the picnic; so glad you will take lots of pictures to share. You do a great job of taking so many pictures and describing the little details. Between your photos and Joe’s, I know you will cover it all!
What a lovely post. I think I’m going to have to get that book even if I don’t win. I didn’t get a chance to comment on your previous blog when you talked about eating soft boiled eggs with “soldiers.” That really is the only way we eat eggs now for breakfast. I love it so much I wrote a whole blog post about it. 🙂
Your picnic sounds wonderful. I’ll be moving my daughter back home from college that weekend, so you all have fun and send me some pics! 🙂
Love the Beatrix journal!!! Very similar to my copy of Fairyopolis … lots of fun pockets to open, etc. Already excited to see how next year’s gathering pans out! Thanks for all you do and share.
Sharon in Alabama
I never win anything but this would be a fun one! Yee Haw! 🙂
I just returned from England .. 🙂 reading your post. Ha, in my dreams. I love the books, I don’t have either!, and I can think of nothing more exciting than to win, win, win! Beatrix is a special treasure, as are you dear Susan. I can’t wait until next year to travel vicariously through the countryside and meadows of England along with you and Joe. What a lovely trip you have planned. I am excited to get the trip started! Thank you for always taking me away to places I have only dreamt of. I feel like I’ve almost been to those places too! With hugs and love.
The wonderful world of Beatrix Potter has just opened to me, what a lovely and exciting journey.
Lovely gifts…exciting picnic news…my soon to be 5 Greatgranddaughter already collects Beatrix Potter figuerines…may have some surprises for her.
Anne from NH.
What a wonderful gift that will be!! Thank you for sharing so much with us!
What a sweet post…made me smile…thank you…
How exciting! I would love to be there it sounds like the best of fun!
Susan, this was such a wonderful post. I enjoyed every single word and picture. Oh, how I would love to picnic at Castle Cottage with you next year! Have you ever read The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter by Susan Wittig Albert? If you haven’t, I know you would love them. There are 8 books in the series written in 2004 – 2011. They are delightful novels about Beatrix when she buys her farm and moves to the Lake District in 1905. The author introduces us to the most charming villagers and talking animals in these books. Check out the site cottagetales.com
Warmly, Marge
I did read them, very charming!
Oh delight of delights. Just thinking about the slimmest possibility that I could win those lovely books had me holding my breath. Please draw the winner soon or I will turn blue & faint. Also, I had a wonderful time fantasizing about going on that picnic with you next May. Such stunningly beautiful countryside. It takes my breath away. And that’s with photographs, imagine if I were seeing it in person. Be still my heart! Thanks for the chance at this giveaway Susan. Good luck everybody.
Susan, so nice to revisit the Beatrix Potter journey. Can’t stop smiling as I pass by the figurines everyday. The grandchildren love making up their own stories as we share them while having a cup of tea and cookies. Just too darn cute I say!
Always an inspiration you are to all of us I too am waiting for cups. I so enjoy having tea in them. My favourite so far is the nature one although once the Autumn one arrives I think my favourite will change lol
Thanks again for sharing 🙂
I have a new favorite every day! I’m a little partial to LOVE, but I think that’s going to change when the new cups come in!
Happy birthday Bea! Pick me, pick me!
What a delight! I love a book with bits and pieces to sort through. For awhile, I would buy any scrapbook I could find on eBay just so I could dip into someone’s life. My favorite was a wedding album from the daughter of a lumber baron in the Pacific Northwest. The scrapbook had swatches from her dress, her attendant’s dresses, her going away dress, a list of of her wedding gifts (lots of crystal and silver), clippings from the newspaper, etc. So much fun and she wasn’t even someone I idolize and there were no lovely illustrations!
I found my mom’s scrapbook, very much like the one you describe, in the garage (Dad brought it down from the rafters) … she was 15 when she made it, and it was the same thing, dried courage with ribbons, newspaper clippings, photos, in her handwriting … it was magic! I hope everyone is leaving something like this behind, we need more of them in the world!
Oh my goodness!! I want that book!! I read all of the fictional books of Beatrix and felt that we were girlfriends. I’m going to try to talk my BFF into going with me to your picnic. Thank you Susan❣️
How inspiring all of this is! Thank you Beatrix & Susan 🙂
To get to picnic in such a beautiful place with kind and lovely ladies of kindred spirit would be truly wonderful . And to possibly win such a beautiful book would be a dream come true 😍
What a day! My two granddaughters have come for a visit and are sweetly slumbering at this very moment and I received a wonderful email/post from you with a contest no less! Keeping my fingers crossed until Vanna works her magic!
Dear Susan ~
This blog posting is one of my favorites! Thank you for always entertaining us so splendidly!
And the comments are always so much fun to read when you are including presents!! And, of course, please add my name to the growing list of girlfriends who would just love to add this journal and your book to their library..
Dear Susan,
More than 60 years ago, my son William gave me a boxed set of the little Beatrix Potter books, each devoted to and titled in the name of one of her friends. They keep company alongside my J. M. Barrie and Francis Thompson books. I’m sure that they share one heart and soul . . .
carolyn fitzgerald rodgers
Who will be celebrating our 151st birthday? Thank you Susan for helping us keep our dear Beatrix alive. I start my day and end my day reading your old and new blogs. I’m grateful for the way you touch my heart.
I’m happy to have you here 💞 . . . maybe we won’t be remembered a hundred years after we’re gone, I think some of us are put here just to help lighten the load of those around us. It’s a huge power … like my dad said it, to “be an elf.”
When my youngest son was a little boy, he and I used to have Beatrix Potter movie time. This was in the days of VHS tapes. I would make cocoa, popcorn, homemade chocolate chip cookies or some other snacks. We put in the tape and and away we went to the time of Beatrix Potter. My favorite part of the movies was the beginning when Beatrix Potter was portrayed writing her stories. It was a special part of my little boy’s growing up years. When I hosted a baby shower for my daughter’s future daughter, I used characters from Beatrix Potter for the theme. Such wonderful, soft, soothing memories are those times. Thank you for sharing the wonderful photos. I have wanted one of your beautiful books for a long time. What a treasure it would be to have your book and one about your kindred spirit, Beatrix.
The book would be a treasure to have , a treasure just like you dear Susan. MC
We love Beatrix Potter. She’s a kind of hero for sure. Lovely message, Susan. Thank you! 💕
Such exciting news, Susan! Your posts always brighten my days, but this one is especially wonderful! Thank you for the opportunity to win such lovely books!
Just finished reading your wonderful post about Beatrix Potter and have a feeling I’ll be returning to it again and again. Thank you for keeping this brave and beautiful woman alive 150 years after her birth.
Looking around the Internet, I think Beatrix, the woman, is becoming more well known in the US. Like me, a few years back, I think people only connected her to her little books and didn’t know the fabulous rest of it! Some heroes should be purposely kept alive so we can have role models. Grandmas need to share their loves with their grandchildren. A really good hero is hard to find ~ especially if you rarely see any except action heroes. We need brain heroes!
Thanks Susan for the beautiful post, as always! Happy Birthday Beatrix!