The world has changed since I was a child, and regions that once were unmapped and even unmappable are instantly accessible on Google and MapQuest. The world, it seems, is known: measured, calculated, gauged, monitored, and mapped. But there is still the world of fiction, where the dimensions are much less calculated, where the real world and imaginary world intersect. For me, one of the greatest pleasures of the Cottage Tales series has been the exploration, via maps, of these intersections of the real and the imaginary.

The Cottage Tales take place in Beatrix Potter's world, in the Lake District of England. You can find a real map of that real place here. If you play with it a bit, you'll see Near Sawrey, which is located between Windermere and Hawkshead. You can see roads, and terrain, and other features across the vast fells and lakes and fields of northwestern England. You can even view it on Google Earth, for an utterly amazing view.

But the world I've created in the Cottage Tales is smaller and more intimate, a world of the heart as well as a world where people and animals have adventures. The first map of this world was drawn (by map-maker and artist Peggy Turchette), to illustrate the places of The Tale of Hill Top Farm. On it, you can see Miss Potter's new farm (new to her in 1905) and the little village of Near Sawrey. If you visit this real village, you might take this map to spy out the various places. But there are fictional places on this map, too: Owl's House, and the lane that goes to Willow Cottage, where the real Beatrix Potter meets the fictional Jeremy Crosfield (another intersection of the real and the imaginary).

The imaginary world grows broader in the second book of the series, The Tale of Holly How, when we meet the badgers who live at The Brockery (click on the link to see the map) and in Cuckoo Brow Wood, where Beatrix and Jeremy, Deirdre, and Caroline look for fairies in the deep, dark woods along Claife Heights. We also explore Raven Hall, which has a marvelous history of fairy folk—a history that opens out even farther in Hawthorn House. This is the book in which Beatrix is confronted with the compelling reality of Mrs. Overthewall and the Thorn folk, who were evicted from their proper home by the careless cutting of some very special trees. The scale of this map is larger, for the imaginary world has grown, stretching all the way from Lake Windermere on the east to Esthwaite Water on the west. It is also the world of Jemima Puddle-duck and her friend the fox, and the curious romantic escapade they share.

In the next two books, we also do more exploring. On the map of Briar Bank, look just above Moss Eccles Tarn and you'll see Briar Bank. This is where Bailey Badger unwittingly shares his badger burrow with... Well, perhaps I shouldn't say—although looking closely at the map, I see that Miss Turchette has drawn his picture. I'll give you a hint. He's green and scaly and he breathes fire. I think you'll like him. He plays a very decisive role in solving the mystery and figuring out what to do with the Viking treasure hoard he's been guarding since...oh, longer than we can imagine!

And the latest book? Applebeck Orchard? There's a map for this adventure, too. Much of the story takes place at Applebeck, but the badgers at Holly How and Major Ragsdale at Teacup Cottage and Fritz the Ferret and Max the Manx—well, they all have their places, on the map and in the narrative. But that's only a part of the delight of this story for me, for this is the book in which dear Mr. Heelis finally has the courage to ask our Miss Potter to be his wife. I'm sure you've been waiting for this momentous event, and (to tell the very truth) so have I. I knew that Mr. Heelis actually proposed (in real life) because he and Miss Potter were married and lived together happily for thirty years. But he was so shy, and she was so constrained by her demanding parents—how in the world could such a thing as a marriage proposal actually happen?

Well. You'll just have to read the book to find that out, won't you? I hope, as you read, that you will trace out the path of the story on the book's map. And I hope you'll agree with me that imaginary worlds beg to be mapped in the very same way that our real world begs to be mapped. And that finding ourselves in place, in places we love, can enrich our lives in immeasurable ways.