As any traveller knows, there are few places in the world which present themselves as exactly as you imagine them. For me, New York City and Paris have always topped the list: I’ll never forget the first time I looked up at Manhattan’s skyscrapers or stumbled across The Eiffel Tower. There’s something really special about how equally magical and reassuring it can be for reality to coincide what’s in your imagination every so often.
Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm, with its rolling hills, picturesque gardens and nostalgic imagery, is one of those places.
Since I first moved to the UK, the Lake District and Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm have been top of my list of destinations to visit. Having grown up with the tales of Peter, Jemima, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail’s antics (not to mention this TV series…), I’ve been itching to get up north to see what Miss. Potter found so inspiring.
After visiting it last Sunday, what can I say? Except now, I totally get it.
Walking through her house, seeing the very floorboards present in some of her books and reading her letters to friends describing her surroundings makes you feel close to the author (in a similar way as a visit to the British Library). The whole experience, quite frankly, will leave you wishing that you could have been Miss Potter’s friend.
Hill Top is obviously a stark contrast from London: the air is fresh and you’re surrounded by green in every direction (a characteristic of the Lake District in general). Wandering through the gardens, nestled in the hills of the English countryside, it’s hard not to feel relaxed as you keep a keen eye out for Peter and his friends.
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