The National Trust – Hill Top

Hill Top is Beatrix Potter’s 17th-century farmhouse: a time-capsule of her life and her spiritual home.

Packed full of her favourite things, the house appears as if Beatrix had just stepped out for a walk. Every room contains a reference to a picture in a ‘tale’. As you stroll up the garden path, imagine playful Tom Kitten or Jemima Puddle-Duck hunting for a place to lay her eggs.

The lovely cottage garden is a haphazard mix of flowers, herbs, fruit and vegetables and there’s a working farm night door. In the heart of Near Sawrey village, you’ll see why Beatrix loved this place.

Bought in 1905 with proceeds from her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, she used Hill Top itself and the surrounding countryside as inspiration for many of her ‘little white books’.