Bunnies and Beatles

Over looking Hilltop - Beatrix Potter's home.

Sorry again that I haven’t been quite so regular in writing about our adventures. We’ve been covering

many miles and seeing so many things now that we have our National Trust membership and so I

haven’t had as much time to get to the internet to update my blog. At the moment we are in Belgium,

having crossed the channel very early this morning, but today’s post will be about our time in the

Lake District and visiting Liverpool which was already three weeks ago!

Beatrix Potter’s tales of cute little animals dressed in old fashioned clothes and living in the ‘Olden

days’ have always been endearing to me and I loved them as a child, as do my own girls, so going

to see where she lived and farmed and got her inspiration to write her familiar stories was a true

treat.

Hilltop - the farmhouse she owned - was close to Lake Windermere in the Lake District. Nearer the

end of her life she owed many fields and some of the houses in that small village which she then

gave to the English Heritage to maintain and keep authentically Edwardian.

The house was left exactly as Beatrix had it, as if she had just stepped out for a walk down the lane,

with a fire burning happily in the grate to keep the house cosy. Placed in every room were books she

had published with the drawings taken from actual objects and places in the house that we could

spot. Like the stair well or the fireplace or the drystone wall and lane seen from the window.

Beatrix Potter house, now a English Heritage site.

We walked through her picturesque garden (where she drew and wrote about Jemima Puddle duck)

and up across the old farm road to the tarn where she and her husband would walk and catch eels.

This special place, where it looks as if time has stood still was a wonderful moment for us on our

English journey. For me, it was the England I had always pictured and dreamt of seeing.

A lovely view from around her farming region.

This was a wee room inside a house that was used by Beatrix in the neighbouring town Hawkshead, which is now a museum for her original work. The room was set up for children to enjoy the art and to create some of their own.

Our next step of the journey took us quickly through time to the 1960’s where we stopped in to see

the Penny Lane sign for Esmae and to see the childhood houses of Paul McCartney and John

Lennon. (Esmae has been a huge Beatles fan for quite a while now, and thought it was a must to go

there for her.) Though sadly both houses were not open to the public as they were having a problem

with the bus system they use to bring in tourists so they decided to shut the houses for that day. Sad

for Esmae! But she was pleased to have seen the outside anyway, and to be in actual Liverpool!

We were lucky that the Beatles house wasn’t the only reason we came to Liverpool as Josh has his

Mum’s cousin and family living just down the road from the Beatles’ place. So we were very pleased

to be spending the day with them and had a lovely lunch catching up with them and learning a bit

more of the family history. Thanks Ron and Lyn. It was a very nice way to spend a sunday

afternoon!

The famous Penny Lane sign, signed by Paul McCartney himself, plus many more!