Celebrating International Women's Day and the visionary Beatrix Potter

By Vikki Rushbrook Insurance Advisor

A stone pathway leads to a rustic house with a lush garden, featuring a watering can and a clay pot on the left side.

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To mark International Women’s Day 2025 on March 8 we celebrate the visionary Beatrix Potter – she was so much more than an author and illustrator, she was a trail-blazing businesswoman and scientist who developed a passion for farming that now protects a quarter of the Lake District.

Royalties from her first book ‘The Tales of Peter Rabbit’ published in 1901 and her following books earned her the money to buy farmhouse Hill Top in 1905 which Beatrix extended and furnished with antiques to turn it into her writing retreat.

She illustrated the farmhouse in many of her books; the parlour is in ‘The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan’ (1905), while her doll’s house is in ‘The Tale of Two Bad Mice’ (1904).

In ‘The Tale of Samuel Whiskers’ (1908) Tom Kitten is caught by rats who scamper up Hill Top’s staircase while in ‘The Tale of Tom Kitten’ (1907) Top Hill is home to Tabitha Twitchit and her three cheeky kittens, Moppet, Mittens and Tom.

A group of painted figurines depicting various rabbits and animals, arranged on a wooden surface.

Figurines on display at Hill Top. Credit: National Trust

A breed apart

She became inspired by the Lake District as a teenager, visiting from London with her family for holidays and enjoyed walks through the Cumbrian countryside.

Beatrix also loved the Herdwick sheep and became committed to their conservation. She was the first woman to be elected president of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association, although she died before she took up the post.

Passion for fungi

When she was 17 she visited the Royal Academy of Arts, in London, where she was drawn to a painting by Swiss artist Angelica Kauffman, one of the only two female founding members of the academy. She was inspired by the idea that women could have careers in the arts and in a letter to publisher Norman Warne she said, ‘It is pleasant to feel I could earn my own living.’

She was interested in the study of fungi and made more than 350 detailed illustrations of them and wrote about her findings. Science was a field often closed to women in Beatrix’s era. The spores of Tremella in some of her paintings were not formally identified by scientists until 45 years after she depicted them. She never managed to have her scientific writing published at The Royal Society.

In her 20s she became friends with Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, one of the three founding members of the National Trust.

in 1913, Beatrix married William Heelis and moved to nearby Castle Cottage but she kept Hill Top as a place to work, entertain and display her collections.

When she died in 1943, aged 77, she left 4,000 acres, including 14 farms and buildings, to the National Trust to support the Lake District community and prevent the land from being sold to developers.

Beatrix was a multi-talented, determined woman who took the land, people and sheep of Cumbria to her heart and left a legacy to protect a way of life she loved.

Cozy room with a lit fireplace, wooden chair holding a hat and flowers, shoes on the floor, and a woven rug.

The range in the entrance hall at Hill Top, Cumbria, home of Beatrix Potter Credit: National Trust

A rural landscape with a cluster of stone buildings surrounded by trees, lush greenery, and hills under a cloudy sky.

A view of Hil Top, Cumbria. Credit: National Trust

Typical farming home

Hill Top, at Near Sawrey, near Hawkshead, in Cumbria was listed Grade II* by Historic England, 55 years ago, in March 1970 and is a traditional Lake District cottage built of roughcast stone house with slate roof.

It was built in the late 17th to early 18th century and has mid-to -late 18th century alterations plus an addition by Beatrix in 1906. No further modifications or alterations have been made to the main building.

Hill Top is a typical example of Lakeland vernacular architecture, quaint and quirky while remaining fully operational, just how Beatrix Potter envisioned. Today’s farmers, the Dixons, have farmed at Hill Top for 35 years and run tours offering an opportunity to learn about a working Lakeland farm and the Herdwick sheep.

Visit Hill Top House is at Near Sawrey, Cumbria LA22 0LF.
Visit nationaltrust.org.uk

Protecting listed buildings of interest

From histories rooted in literature, to traditional construction methods no longer used, listed buildings encapsulate many wonderful stories from our past. These properties need protection to ensure their stories aren’t lost for generations to come. To explore more of these fascinating properties, visit our Listed buildings of interest page.

Listed building insurance

Owing a listed building means you are the custodian of a bit of history and with that comes responsibilities. One of which is ensuring your listed building is properly insured.

Whilst standard home insurance may be appealing, you could be leaving yourself and your listed building at risk. You can learn more about that in our article: Choosing the right insurance policy for your listed home.

When it comes to finding appropriate insurance, the process may seem overwhelming or time consuming, that’s where using a specialist listed building insurer can help. You can learn more about working with a specialist here.

If you’d like to speak to us about your listed building insurance, or would simply like some advice, please call us on 01622 476 433.

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