Ever since I grew up with the old animated Tales of Peter Rabbit films, I’ve loved Beatrix Potter’s stories. Finally getting to visit her home at Hilltop Farm last fall was a dream come true. Everything—from the little winding trails through the countryside, the distant bleating of sheep in the pastures, the quiet orchard twilight—was more like a storybook than I could have imagined.
The Lake District felt much like a fairytale realm itself, full of hilltops and rich earth and mysterious, foggy forests. When I hiked through trails, through woodlands steeped in stories, I could easily imagine popping around the corner to find a faun beneath a lamppost, or a group of hobbits journeying through the Shire.
It’s no wonder that Beatrix Potter was so influenced by the landscape of Cumbria in her stories. As I reflected on her legacy, three of her lifelong loves stood out to me as things that I want to copy in my modern life: country living, the making of a home, and creating beautiful art.
COUNTRY LIVING
“One place suits one person, another place suits another person. For my part, I prefer to live in the country…”
Beatrix Potter fell in love with the Lake District of England from an early age. Like many families, the Potters vacationed in Cumbria every summer to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Beatrix found a particular sense of delight in the rhythms of country life. When she was an established author, she purchased a working farm in Near Sawrey—a place called Hill Top, located just uphill from lake Windermere. Though she didn’t live there for many years, she loved improving the farmlands. In turn, the country inspired her creatively.
Because of her early-rooted love for the wilderness, Beatrix spent much of her later life purchasing new acreages in the Lake District. By the end of her life, she donated over 4,000 acres to the National Trust. Thanks to her, the beautiful landscape of the Lake District looks much the same today as it did a hundred years ago.
We can’t all conserve thousands of acres of farmland, but there’s plenty of ways Beatrix can inspire us to nourish the earth we’ve been given. We can still take long walks through the countryside now and again. We can get our hands dirty with good honest earth and cultivate growing things, even if it’s a potted plant in the windowsill. We can still celebrate the beauty around us by taking care of it.
MAKING A HOME
“We cannot stay home all our lives, we must present ourselves to the world and we must look upon it as an adventure.”
The National Trust has kept Beatrix Potter’s home true to her time; the quiet rooms are left exactly as if Beatrix had just popped out of the room and would be back at any given moment.
Beatrix Potter surrounded herself with things she loved: a delicate set of china teacups, her brother’s landscape paintings, heirloom quilts made by her family, a favorite dollhouse tucked away in her writing room. She kept a little piano in the upstairs room; even though she couldn’t play it herself, she loved to hear others play when they came to visit.
A few months ago, I put together a post on how to make your home more personable and cozy. I’m a big believer that your home should be filled only with things you love—things that bring you joy: your favorite books, your favorite scented lotion, your favorite knickknacks and candles and blankets. Take a leaf out of Beatrix Potter’s book and make your room into an expression of all the things you love most in the world.
CREATING ART
“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.”
Aside from gardening and farming, Beatrix Potter’s other lifelong love was creating stories. She was an artist from an early age, drawn especially to watercolor painting, storytelling, and nature. Together, these three things eventually sprouted into The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1903), and the many children’s books that soon followed. At the turn of the century, publication was not considered a practical career for any woman—least of all the publication of children’s books about animals.
Beatrix Potter’s parents, along with many of her friends, were skeptical about her “bunny books.” They told her the idea was too outlandish, that it would never make any money. Beatrix’s publishing company, Frederick Warne and Co., was among the skeptics. They initially planned to release only 5,000 copies of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1903….and yet in the following year, public demand skyrocketed so high that they sold over 55,000 copies.
God has given us all our own unique set of skills, things we love, circumstances, tendencies, quirks. All of these puzzle pieces fit together to make up our own life purpose. And whatever your ambition, it doesn’t necessarily have to be what has been done before. Beatrix Potter turned her love of watercolor and storytelling into children’s books. What can you do with what you’ve been given?
That’s all for today! I hope you find as much inspiration in Beatrix Potter’s legacy as I do. If you want to know more about her life, there’s an excellent movie about her life called Miss Potter (2006) starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. And of course, there’s at least sixteen wonderful children’s books written by Beatrix Potter herself for you to explore.
<3 Olivia Grace
