Beatrix Potter Lake DistrIct

Starting at Wray Castle, here she spent her first holiday in 1882 at 16 when Dalguise in Scotland was no longer available.
It’s here she met Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, a vicar of Wray, who was one of the founding Secretaries of the National Trust, who Beatrix Potter left nearly all her land and estate too.
From there we follow the shore line path to Cliafe Viewing station, there’s an old ruin there with a beautiful open stained-glass window.

From there, head to Far Sawey through good and well trodden paths, and then onto Near Sawey, where Hill Top is where her first house was. She brought Hill Top in 1905 from the profit of the Peter Rabbit sales.

She kept the farmer on and learned farming and bought surrounding farms and land to preserve the lakes from development. She used her wealth to buy many acres of land to stop developments which today is now National Trust land. She owned Castle Cottage across the road where she lived when she marred William Heelis in 1913 as it was bigger and more convenient than Hill Top.

She turned the land from a deer reserve to Herdwick farm, filling the land with them and even becoming a prize winning breeder, even today the National Trust on her instruction continue to graze herds.
The pub next door, The Tower Bank Arms was used in the Jemima Puddleduck tales.

From the village, head up the tracks to Moss Eccles Tarn, where she spent hours fishing and got the inspiration for Jeremy Fisher. She brought the Tarn and gave it to National Trust.
Head through the forest tracks to Latterbarrow which isn’t anything to with Beatrix Potter but Alfred Wainwright, it’s an outerlying fell with amazing views of the Beatrix Potter world, then head down back down to Wray Castle.