Beatrix Potter used the success of The Tale of Peter Rabbit to buy Hill Top, a 17th-century farmhouse and 34-acre farm in the Lake District village of Near Sawrey, in 1905. Potter was 39 and had already published six books with Frederick Warne & Co when she bought the property with proceeds from Peter Rabbit and a small inheritance from an aunt. Although she could not live there permanently at first because she was expected to spend much of the year with her parents in London, Hill Top quickly became both a working farm and a source of inspiration for her writing. She hired a property manager and began learning about Lakeland farming, eventually developing a particular commitment to Herdwick sheep. Over the following decades, her interests shifted increasingly from writing towards farming, land management and conservation, and by the time of her death in 1943, she had built up a substantial estate that she left to the National Trust.
The farm gave Beatrix Potter a new kind of independence
Hill Top represented something very different from Potter’s life in London. She had spent many summers in the Lake District from childhood and regarded the countryside as a place where she could work and pursue her interests away from the restrictions of her family’s London life. The National Trust describes Hill Top as a refuge that became a place of independence and inspiration. Margaret Lane, in her 1968 biography of Potter, described the farm as a symbol of freedom to its owner.The purchase also came during a period of personal upheaval. In 1905, Potter became engaged to Norman Warne, her editor at Frederick Warne & Co. Warne died suddenly just four weeks after proposing. Potter responded by throwing herself into her work and continued producing the children’s books that had begun to make her successful. The National Trust says she also threw herself into running Hill Top while continuing to work on more of her “little books”.
Hill Top became part of her stories
The landscape around Near Sawrey became closely connected with Potter’s writing. The National Trust says the area around Sawrey and nearby Hawkshead provided settings for nine of her little books. The Tale of Jeremy Fisher, published in 1906, was set on nearby Esthwaite Water, while the garden and house at Hill Top can be recognised in The Tale of Tom Kitten, published in 1907. The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, published in 1908, drew directly from Potter’s life at the farm. According to the National Trust, the story was based on a real runaway duck at Hill Top. Potter’s surroundings were therefore not simply a backdrop for her illustrations. Animals, buildings, gardens and the wider landscape became material for the stories themselves. After marrying solicitor William Heelis in 1913, Potter moved into Castle Cottage, while Hill Top remained an important place for her writing and creative work. At the same time, her involvement in farming continued to deepen.
Farming gradually became central to her life
Potter was a lifelong learner when it came to Lakeland farming. She worked closely with experienced farmers and shepherds and became particularly committed to breeding Herdwick sheep, a native Lakeland breed. Her correspondence shows how closely she involved herself in the day-to-day management of her land and livestock. A 1916 letter to Eleanor Choyce, a farmhand Potter employed during the First World War, gives an unusually detailed picture of Hill Top. Potter described the farm as covering 120 acres, including 9 acres of arable land, with 2 horses, 9 or 10 cows and 60 sheep, 47 of them lambing ewes. She also mentioned poultry, an orchard, a flower garden and vegetables, as well as the Cannon family, who had worked on the farm for years.The change in Potter’s identity is visible in official records. The 1911 census recorded her occupation as “authoress”. By the 1921 census, after her marriage to Heelis, there was no mention of her earlier profession and she was recorded simply as a “farmer”. The National Trust’s Assistant National Curator Helen Antrobus describes this as evidence of how deeply Potter had committed herself to managing her farms.
Her farming empire eventually stretched across the Lake District
Hill Top was only the beginning. Potter continued buying farms and land in the Lake District, developing large flocks of Herdwick sheep and working with experienced local farmers. After purchasing Troutbeck Park Farm in 1923, she was managing more than 1,000 Herdwick sheep across more than 1,800 acres. Her head shepherd, Tom Storey, helped improve the condition of the Troutbeck flock, and after moving to Hill Top in 1927, he helped establish a highly regarded Herdwick flock there. Potter’s sheep went on to win awards at local agricultural shows.Farming was not simply a source of income for Potter. She continued to write about the difficulties of falling wool prices, including in a December 1930 letter in which she complained that the price of wool had dropped sharply. At the same time, her involvement with the land increasingly extended into conservation. She worked with the National Trust and supported efforts to protect the Lake District from inappropriate development, using money from her books and land purchases to help preserve parts of the landscape she valued. When Potter died in 1943, she left around 4,000 acres of land and 15 farms, along with flocks of Herdwick sheep, to the National Trust. She stipulated that Hill Top, her most treasured home, should be preserved as she had left it. The farmhouse remains in the Trust’s care, while Hill Top Farm continues to operate as a working farm with Herdwick sheep descended from Potter’s original flock.
