Helen Beatrix Potter, beloved children’s author, artist, and conservationist, was born in bustling Victorian London on July 28, 1866. Captivated by the glens, woods, and waters of Scotland and England, where she vacationed with her family, Potter was instilled early on with a love of the country. 

 

The English author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist is best known for her imaginative children's books which celebrated the British landscape and country life. Her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, is a classic and remains one of the best selling children's books of all time.

 

With the proceeds from the books and a legacy from an aunt, Potter bought Hill Top Farm in 1905, located in Near Sawrey, a tiny village, then in Lancashire, the English Lake District near Windermere. Over the following decades, she purchased additional farms to preserve the unique hill country landscape. 

 

There is much about Miss Potter that inspires travelers to make the trek to the English Lake District, her home for the last 30 years of her life, In the summer of 2016, I embarked on just such an journey. It was the year of her 150th birthday celebration. I was quite joyous about this opportunity and  touched by the beauty of the natural world in the Lake District, which remains much as it was 100 years ago. What I found in the quaint little town of Near Sawrey, located in Cumbria, England is one of my all-time favorite travel memories.

 

Here's my account of an enchanted trip back in time to a magical land far away to visit Beatrix Potter's Hill Top Farm.

 

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