Tuesday 18th April, 2023
We woke up to a lovely sunny day and had a very similar breakfast to
yesterday. Our first destination was Hill Top, a farm which
was once the home of Beatrix Potter. It is now owned by the National
Trust. There were a lot of people at the farm but it was well
organised and we didn’t have to wait very long before we could go
in. It was very interesting because most of the furniture inside the
house was actually Beatrix Potter's as well as some paintings and
other memorabilia that she had collected. She used the farm as
inspiration for many of the illustrations in her stories, and it was
very interesting to see some of these well known locations.
Some of the country near Hill Top.
Everything is so green in England!
As we drive around the countryside, we see a lot of lambs in
the fields. This has made me think of the music "All in the
April Evening" quite a few times. If you don't know it, you
can listen to it here.
A gate at Hill Top
The gate as an illustration in "Jemima Puddle-Duck"
The front of Hill Top as it is today...
...and as illustrated by Beatrix Potter.
A Bumble Bee
This is a replica of the original range in the kitchen...
...and this is the same range as drawn by Potter.
Beatrix Potter had excellent taste in crockery!
This carving is at the head of the bed above.
This photo is of a dressing mirror (with a reflection of me
taking it!)...
...and the mirror as illustrated by Potter.
It was sad to look at this doll's house furniture after
reading the information above.
There were some wonderful flowers in the Garden at Hill Top.
A magnolia
From there we travelled to Levens Hall which was built in the late
1500s and added to in the centuries since. Disappointingly, we were
not allowed to take any photographs inside the building. I went to
the bookshop, hoping to be able to buy a guide book so that I would
have some photos to remind me of the place, but they had run out of
the old books and the new ones had not arrived yet. We ordered lunch
at the cafe.
I was not expecting a sandwich as big as
this! It was lemon chicken.
Satoshi had Cartmel Pork and Apple Sausages. Note the
beautiful blue sky! One advantage of England is that one can
eat outside without the constant irritation of flies.
Levens Hall spares no expense when it comes to providing
cutlery receptacles. They must have spent a fortune getting
this one to look just like some old can!
We didn't have time to explore the gardens. Satoshi took this
photo while I was still working my way through the lemon
chicken sandwich!
This seagull is very similar to the Pacific Gulls we get
in Australia (which are one of my favourite birds).
This is the ferry on which we travelled.
Many of the grand old homes along the shores of the lake are
now hotels.
Jemima Puddle-Duck and me
Just Jemima Puddle-Duck (without me)
Jemima with "the sandy whiskered gentleman".
Some of the models were very tiny. These mice were only about
3cm high,
If you didn't know her before, you know her now!
There was another lovely garden (Mr McGregor's of course) at
this attraction.
Canada Geese
There were only four other passengers on the ferry with us so
it was not difficult to find a seat!
This was the view we had to put up with while enjoying our
dinner.
