In the summer and fall of 1905, Beatrix Potter completed the purchase of a 31-acre small-holding in the village of Near Sawrey, in the English Lake District. Hill Top Farm had been in the Preston family for about fifty years, until the owner, Henry Preston, died in the spring of 1905. The stock was sold off and the land-151 acres-was purchased by a timber merchant, who then sold off a smaller section.
In the autumn of 1905, Beatrix bought the smaller piece, at a price almost twice what the local folk thought it was worth. It included the old farmhouse, a barn and other outbuildings, small woods, and a hilly green pasture. Beatrix was familiar with the farm, since she and her parents had spent summer holidays in 1896 and 1900 at Lakefield, a large house nearby, and the Potters had boarded their coachman and his family at the farmhouse. The farm was managed by John Cannon, who lived in the farmhouse with his wife and two children. After some initial hesitation, Beatrix asked the Cannons to stay on to look after the place, since her family obligations kept her in London.
The Farmhouse at Hill Top
The farmhouse was built in the late 1600s, and enlarged in the next century by the addition of a staircase extension, a pantry, and a one-story kitchen. It was constructed of local stone covered with stucco, and had a slate roof. Beatrix had the kitchen torn down and a two-story wing added, for the farmer and his family. When the work was finally done, in late 1906, Beatrix began furnishing the house with an eclectic mix of rustic oak furniture she bought at farm sales, some old family pieces (like her great-grandmother's warming pan), and art objects-silver, old porcelain, ivory-that appealed to her artist's eye. She created a romantic interior that reflected the artistic philosophy of William Morris and the style of the Arts and Crafts movement. In the Arts and Crafts philosophy, country furniture was seen as symbolizing a simpler time and the country cottage was viewed as the domestic setting for a way of life that was more in touch with nature and all that was good about the past. This kind of architecture and furnishing was a strong contrast to the formal, grandly embellished, and over-furnished houses of the Victorian period--to the house where Beatrix's parents lived, for example. For Beatrix, the house at Hill Top Farm was not only a personal retreat of her own making, but a statement of an important artistic and social philosophy.
When Beatrix Potter died in 1943, Hill Top Farm became the property of the National Trust.
The Garden at Hill Top
At Hill Top, gardening quickly became one of Beatrix's great passions, along with farming and raising sheep. She planted a tidy vegetable garden and a traditional cottage garden full of flowers, its pleasurable profusion of blossoms and foliage spilling out of spaces created and marked by hedges, trellises, brick and stone walls, and slate paths.
And what of Beatrix's herbs? Like most cottage gardeners, she seems to have felt that herbs were not to be contained and compartmentalized, but planted and carefully tended throughout her garden. And like many other gardeners of her time, she must have known much of the wonderful folklore that has come down to us with these mysterious, magical plants. She might have read some of the information in the 1633 edition of Gerard's Herbal, which was a gift to her from her father. You can see this book today, on display at the farm.
Beatrix included a great many plants in her "little books," and sketching them in gardens she visited and in her own. For a list of these, and a list of the plants Beatrix mentioned in her letters, click here.
Beatrix's garden is maintained by the National Trust, and includes many of the same plants she enjoyed, as well as more recent varieties. The photographs below were taken by Susan and Bill Albert during a visit to Hill Top Farm in September, 2003.
Click on the photo or name to enlarge the picture and read about the plant.
