I was in Gilman Village in Issaquah recently visiting Anglomania, a lovely little English shop supplying the needs of Eastside Brits. I was there to buy some Bunnykin's China for a very young friend of mine's birthday and a Christening mug for his even younger sister. The children's line of Bunnykin's china was inspired by the "Tales of Beatrix Potter."
Coincidentally, when I returned home, there were several messages for me about the movie, "Ms. Potter." (No relation to Harry the Wiz.) As two of my callers found on going to an advance screening of the movie, they were so delighted with the setting, scenery and the story that they strongly recommended it as a must-see for me. I'm still waiting to see it.
The Lake District, the National Trust and Beatrix Potter were no strangers to me, having been featured in several of my radio programs. So in response to all the interest, hereby hangs a tale: the tale of Beatrix Potter, the creator of Jemima Puddleduck, Peter Rabbit, Samuel Whiskers, Tom Kitten and many others.
Beatrix Potter was born in London in July 1866 to a strict Victorian household. Children, in the opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Potter (and a good many of their generation), were to be seen and not heard. They discouraged their daughter Helen from meeting others of her own age. Instead, nannies and governesses were employed to teach her "a lady's accomplishments," paid for by the cotton fortunes the Potters had inherited.
IT HELPS TO HAVE A NANNY BELIEVE IN MAGIC
Nanny Mackenzie, who looked after Helen when she was small, believed in fairies, witches and magic. The delicate child, known by her middle name of Beatrix, never forgot the nanny's wonderful stories.
Deprived of friends, she also took to smuggling animals past her cold, domineering mother. The rabbits Benjamin Bouncer and Peter Piper were her favorites, together with Xarifa the dormouse and a menagerie of hedgehogs, bats and lizards. As Beatrix embarked upon the solitary hobby of painting, her pets were enlisted as ideal subjects.
By the time she was 9 years old, Beatrix was drawing with sensitivity and verve. Her accurate studies of caterpillars, fungi and flowers belied her age, but she was also quick to explore more fanciful avenues. "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," written as a letter in 1893, was for Noel, the sick little son of her one-time governess and fond companion, Annie Moore.
Beatrix disliked London intensely. Fortunately her father's inherited wealth enabled him to play the part of a gentleman. The Potters would regularly uproot themselves for the south coast or Scotland, or visit Beatrix's adored grandmother in Herefordshire. Thus began her obsessive love of the countryside. When Beatrix was 16, Mr. Potter rented a grand house called Wray Castle, in the west of the Lake District, for the summer. The family immediately fell in love with the tranquil yet wild beauty of the fells.
One visitor to the castle, Canon Rawnsley, was to have a major influence on Beatrix's life. A vigorous clergyman, he was an apostle of John Ruskin and a devotee of the Lake District. Since the poet William Wordsworth had eulogized the area, it had become more and more popular with tourists, eager to buy traditional hand-carved furniture and chests. With them came industry and developers.
Rawnsley and his friends were in the vanguard of the struggle to protect the Lake's fragile way of life. In 1883, the Canon established the Lake District Defense Society; 12 years later, he was to set his sights higher as a founder of the National Trust. Beatrix's fondness for the Lake District made her an ideal recruit to his cause. She was to support the fledgling charity throughout her life.
For Beatrix's tentative sketches were blossoming into a promising career. Prompted by an admiring uncle, she submitted six pictures of Benjamin Bouncer to a greetings-card publisher. Before long the rabbit was adorning Christmas cards across London.
Emboldened by her success, Beatrix sent a reworked "Tale of Peter Rabbit" to various publishers. None accepted her work, but after her self-financed 250 copies sold out in weeks, their interest was aroused.
Frederick Warne took her on. Eight thousand copies of "Peter Rabbit" were ordered in advance, and she never looked back.
The book was an instant bestseller, and Beatrix quickly became one of Warne's most important writers. Indeed, every single one of her 27 books was tremendously successful, and the repeat royalties still flow to this day.
EDITOR POPS QUESTION
In 1905, her editor Norman Warne proposed marriage to her. Their use of the Warnes' dollhouse in "The Tale of Two Bad Mice" had drawn them together. The handsome bachelor had come to love this quirky, strong-willed woman, who at the age of 39 was still chaperoned when she came to see him. Beatrix's parents were furious. Forgetting their own industrial origins, they felt they could not allow their daughter to marry into "trade."
But tragedy struck when Norman died of leukemia scarcely a month after he had proposed. Only the kindness of the warm and friendly Warne family helped her through the remains of the year. Norman's sister, Mille, was to remain a good friend for the rest of Beatrix's life, and they wrote to each other frequently. Miserably, Beatrix vowed, "I must try to make a fresh beginning next year."
So she fled to the Lake District and bought Hill Top Farm, beside Esthwaite Water, with her earnings. Farm life proved to be the perfect distraction from her grief, and she developed Hill Top into the country cottage that she had always wanted, filled with specialty chosen treasures.
Today's visitors cannot help but fall under the spell of Hill Top's six charming rooms. All of the traditional Cumbrian furniture is hand-carved and as full of character as its original owner. The china and ornaments scattered about the rooms were carefully chosen, not for their value but for sentimental reasons. They include plates illustrated by her father, paintings by her brother Bertram and the bellows given to her by Norman Warne.
Those who have enjoyed Beatrix Potter's books may feel they know the farm already. "The Tale of Tom Kitten" was sketched after the fertile garden at Hill Top, with its profusion of roses, fox-gloves, sweet peas and lupins. "Jemina Puddleduck" is based in the farmyard: Beatrix's beloved collie, Kep is also part of the story.
"The Tale of Jeremy Fisher" is set in Esthwaite Water, with the Langdale Pikes visible in the distance. In "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers," Tabitha rummages through Hill Top in the search for her son; the village of Near Sawrey can be seen in "Ginger and Pickles."
Flush with the success of her stories, Beatrix began to acquire more land in the Lakes, to preserve it for future generations. In 1913 she married William Heelis, the gentle local solicitor who had helped her through many purchases. Beatrix confessed herself lonely and felt that this shy, gentle man would treat her kindly. He was 42 to her 47. Theirs was to be a harmonious marriage, their personalities complementing each other perfectly.
The same year, Beatrix wrote "The Tale of Pigling Bland," a love story for children. Pigling Bland meets the irrepressible Pigwig, and they "dance arm-in-arm, over the hills and far away." Beatrix always denied it was about her and William.
They settled in Castle Farm adjoining her first cottage. Hill Top would always represent her life as a writer - but slowly, her small holding was turning into a proper farm.
In 1923, she bought Troughtbeck Farm and 2,000 acres of land, snatched from beneath the noses of property developers. It was in a terrible state, but with her unerring eye for the warm, cozy and beautiful, Beatrix soon restored the farmhouse.
Like Hill Top, this lovely 17th-century cottage is filled with geraniums that can be seen in so many of her tales. She improved the poor quality land, and reared hardy Herdwick sheep upon it. In her will, she stipulated that the flock should always be maintained on the estate.
When she died in 1943 during World War II, Beatrix's ashes were spread over her beloved fells. "Willie" was devastated, and found life impossible without her companionship. He died less than two years after her. Both were sorely missed.
Beatrix was a mass of contradictions. The writer of charming tales for children, she was also an irascible, hard-bitten countrywoman, involved in all aspects of farming and conversation. She understood animals better than people, yet loved meddling in the affairs of her relations and friends.
She shunned publicity and her British audience, but opened her arms to her American and Australian readers. She remained in communication with some for years, dedicating books to them and writing them enchanting letters.
Peter Rabbit and his friends had helped Beatrix to acquire 4,000 acres of the Lake District, 11 -farms and countless cottages. The land passed to Heelis upon her death, and then to the National Trust.
The tough little Hardwick sheep that Beatrix raised still graze the fells, and hikers can walk the hills, safe in the knowledge that this quiet corner of England will forever remain as beautiful as Beatrix knew it.
The Lake District and the Beatrix Potter connections are well worth visiting if you are planning a trip to Britain. Here is some useful information:
* World of Beatrix Potter, Bowness-on-Windemere (tel: 01539488444). A family attraction recreating many of the books' best-loved scenes.
* Hill Top, near Sawrey (tel: 01539436269). This tiny cottage receives over 70,000 visitors a year. The National Trust asks you to visit out of season to avoid compromising the area's sensitivity.
TTFN
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