By Fyllis Hockman
What do William Wordsworth, William Butler Yeats and Jemima Puddle-Duck have in common? They all lived in and around the fairy-tale villages of England's Lake District, but only one of them is actually fictional.
Possibly the most famous of the three — at least among the under-10 set — is Ms. Puddle-Duck, who, along with Peter Rabbit, Samuel Whiskers and Pickles, was brought to life by Beatrix Potter, another famous resident of the Lake District. She's also the one most responsible for maintaining the environmental integrity of the area. After her death in 1943 the National Trust received 14 of her properties, thereby preserving much of the land that now comprises the Lake District National Park.
Most people have at least a cursory introduction to Peter Rabbit, Flopsy and Mopsy, and that mean old Farmer McGregor at some point during childhood. This is where they lived until Potter caught them and immortalized them forever in tiny little books.
So first, something about the Lake District that Potter so loved. The countryside is tantalizingly green and quintessentially English. The landscape is replete with the requisite sheep, rolling hedgerows, low-slung stone walls, slate-roofed stone houses, and hot pink, orange-gold and deep-purple explosions of vibrant colors.
This picturesque world, filled with breathtaking views at every turn, explains why many artists have flocked here to replicate its beauty on canvas. An expanse of visual wonderment extending for miles in every direction makes the "scenic overlook" signs seem redundant. This is also a walker's wonderland with public footpaths plentiful on every country road. No wonder Potter fell in love.
I saw so many rabbits scampering about as my husband and I hiked the countryside that I felt this was an open invitation — as it must have seemed for Potter — to follow them farther into their world, even if that turned out to be a very commercial but wonderfully inventive, creative, interactive enterprise appropriately nicknamed "The World of Peter Rabbit." But more on that later.
First a visit to Hill Top, Potter's home for 38 years and the site of many of her creations' adventures. Many homes reflect the personalities of the owners and their pets, but rarely is a home so filled with the immediacy of its owner's creations. Hill Top was first purchased in 1905, and the characters appear so alive as to permeate not only the house but the surrounding village and countryside, all of which became additional characters in what would become a series of beloved children's books. Once visitors enter the grounds and garden of Hill Top and see all its original furnishings, they are transported back to the world as it was until the day Potter died.
Visitors can pick up "A Tale of Samuel Whiskers" lying about as they walk in and follow the book's story as they see the holes where the mice lived that threatened Tom Kitten. Or they can accompany Pigland Bland as he wanders through the village and seeks to protect Jemima Puddle-Duck's egg as it lies hidden in the rhubarb patch. They can almost hear the Two Bad Mice discussing the ham and cheese that don't seem quite edible because they are, of course, from Potter's dollhouse, which is right in front of them in the parlor.
In addition to Potter's characters, her life is also on exhibit here. Her desk contains letters she wrote that were often illustrated with cartoons and drawings. The first edition of "Peter Rabbit," which she wrote in letter form in September 1893 as a story to cheer up a sick son of her former governess, is available for viewing.
The whole house comes to life through the illustrations in her stories — or is it that the illustrations become alive because they re-create the reality of her home? The parlor contains a table with some partially eaten biscuits and correspondence Potter was evidently in the process of completing.
Indeed it seems that every shop in the area sells some version of Peter Rabbit memorabilia. When my husband and I stopped at a local pub for some requisite fish and chips, he asked about the soup of the day. It was carrot, no doubt Peter Rabbit's favorite.
As to the rabbits cavorting in the countryside, here's where their namesake really comes alive. In the downtown section of Bowness-on-Windermere stands a very different testimonial to Potter's creations — more commercial perhaps, but no less intriguing. The World of Beatrix Potter Attractions, which is not connected with the National Trust preservation of Hill Top, offers an animated version of all 23 of Potter's tales in an indoor re-creation of the Lake District countryside she loved and her lovable characters inhabited, complete with sights, sounds and smells.
How thrilling it was to find that Jemima Puddle-Duck was a real duck that lived at Hill Top. Her efforts to hatch her own eggs, threatened by a conniving fox nearby, were protected by Kep the collie, Potter's favorite sheepdog.
Throughout the attraction are life-size dioramas of scenes from her books, sometimes comprised of an entire forest, making it hard to imagine that they were once only illustrations in a small book. The whole exhibit replicates a stroll through Potter's home and garden.
Each exhibit entreats the viewer to press a "Find out more" button that provides an explanation of what inspired Potter to write that particular story and how she developed those particular characters. Each larger-than-life display lifts the characters from the page to inhabit the viewer's consciousness in a way few fairy tales — or for that matter, adult literary protagonists — ever will. There is so much background information about each character — and there are dozens — that it is almost impossible to absorb it all for anyone who isn't a devoted Potter aficionado. It's a journey through a lifetime of literature.
Adele Wilson, a visitor from Scotland who had no children with her, was so obviously enthralled by the exhibits that I couldn't resist asking why.
"My granny used to read these books to me at night," she said, "and seeing these presentations brings it all back to life. I had forgotten how much I had loved all those stories."
She isn't alone.
WHEN YOU GO
For more information, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hill-top and www.peterrabbit.com/en/beatrix_potter/lake_district/the_world_of_beatrix_potter_attraction.
Fyllis Hockman is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
View Comments