Travel The Tale of Beatrix Potter
As a show about the writer opens at the V&A, William Cook visits the Lake District spots that inspired her lovely books In the Beatrix Potter Gallery, Hawkshead, Alice Sage, a National Trust curator, is showing me a precious picture that takes me right back to my early childhood. It’s a tiny illustration from The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. What a thrill to see the original painting after all these years – so small and fragile, and yet so full of life. Half a century since I first read her books, I still haven’t grown out of Beatrix Potter. Here, in the antiquated office where her husband, a local solicitor, used to work, her characters seem to live and breathe, just as they did when I was small. In February, a Beatrix Potter exhibition opens at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Beatrix wasn’t only a children’s author (though, to my mind, there’s no higher calling). She was also a scientist, a conservationist – and a brilliant artist too. This extensive show will shed fresh light on all these achievements. But to understand her properly, you have to travel to the west bank of Windermere, where she made her home and set so many of her stories. The Lake District was her great escape from the stifling constrictions of her affluent upbringing, in a grand but dreary 82 The Oldie January 2022
house in Kensington, around the corner from the V&A. She fell in love with the Lake District in her teens, and in 1913 she moved up here and became a farmer. Over the next 30 years, she bought up thousands of acres of farmland, to save it from developers. When she died, in 1943, she left most of it to the National Trust. If it hadn’t been for her, the Lake District would look very different today. A wander around the landscape she preserved is a great way to get to know her. The last time I did this trip, I brought my five-year-old daughter and she loved it. Now she’s 17, far too cool to tag along. So this time I came alone, and it was a journey tinged with melancholy. As Beatrix (who had no children) understood, though childhood is fleeting its memory lingers for a lifetime. For me, and millions like me, that memory is preserved in her timeless books. Unlike a lot of places in the Lake District, Windermere is easy to get to. And it’s one of the few places in the Lakes where you really don’t need a car. My Avanti train from London took barely three hours, with just one
change, at Oxenholme. It’s the most comfy way to travel here – a lot less hassle than driving. From Bowness-on-Windermere, you can visit all the main Beatrix Potter sites on foot, as long as you’re fairly fit and have a few days to spare. If you’re not feeling all that energetic, or if you’re simply pushed for time, I’d recommend Mountain Goat, a local firm that’s been ferrying lazy hikers like me around the Lakes for 50 years. Nowadays their speciality is guided tours, including a bespoke Beatrix Potter tour. I decided to give that a go on my first day, and then walk around a few of the other sites during the days to come. My friendly Mountain Goat driver, Gerry, met me at Windermere station, and drove me to Wray Castle. From a distance, Wray Castle looks medieval, but it’s actually Victorian. Beatrix spent several summers here in her teens and twenties, with her parents. It was here that she met Canon Rawnsley, one of the founders of the National Trust. He encouraged her drawing and writing. They remained friends for life. Wray Castle is now owned by the
