South Lakeland District

Thank you Jenny for suggesting that it was worthwhile visiting Beatrix Potter's cottage. Beryl and Keith kindly drove us there this morning. It was another sunny day but a couple of degrees cooler which was good. We got there early and got ahead of the coach loads of tourists which arrived later in the morning. There can be up to 800 people visiting each day.
The house was furnished with furniture of the era and had been left to the National Trust together with several farms and houses which the author had acquired during her lifetime. Drawing and painting had apparently run in the family as there were a series of plates which her father had painted. There were also some large paintings hanging on the wall which had been done by her brother.
The garden was full of swathes of bright flowers whilst the vegetable garden had huge beds of rhubarb and strawberries. There were also gooseberries, beans, radishes etc.
One interesting thing we saw during the morning was the dry stone wall opposite Hill Top cottage, which is what the house was called, beng repaired. I asked the guy for permission to photograph the process which was quite different.Read more