A Year With Beatrix Potter & Friends - December

We are back in Near Sawrey this month as we wrap up our year-long tour of Beatrix Potter's Lake District with Jemima Puddle-duck.  Jemima really wanted to take you shopping at Ginger & Pickles, the shop run by her friends Ginger the cat and Pickles the terrier.  But, alas, she has a tale of woe to tell us instead. . . . .

From: The History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter

QUACK!  I was all set to take you shopping for Christmas gifts but instead I have a very sad tale to tell you  QUACK!  Here is a map that shows the shop of Ginger & Pickles. . . .

A Year With Beatrix Potter & Friends - November

I hope you haven't minded having to stay at Derwentwater since October because I only realized later that I had not told you that Jemima would be staying on until this month!  If you did not want to stay you would have had to find your own way back to Near Sawrey, so I apologize profusely if that was, indeed, what you had to do!  Today Jemima will be taking us on a tour of Cat Bells.  You can see it on the map (lower left corner) just south of Lingholm and west of Owl (St. Herbert's) Island where we were last month with Squirrel Nutkin. . . .

A Year With Beatrix Potter & Friends - October

Between 1885 and 1907 the Potters spent nine summers at Lingholm along Derwentwater.  Beatrix was free to wander in the woods.  Here she could let her imagination play.  It was the summer of 1901 that she first did the sketches for today's story.  In this photo from the movie "Miss Potter" you can see St. Herbert's Island, which became Owl Island in Beatrix's story. . . .

credit:  Momentum Pictures

A Year With Beatrix Potter & Friends - September

Today Jemima will lead the way around Esthwaite Water to the west and head north to Hawkshead as she tells us the Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse.  You will recognize the archway below in Hawkshead from Beatrix's drawing in today's story.  The interior drawings were of Dr. and Mrs. Bolton's house.  Dr. Bolton played golf with Mr. Heelis on a course they had built in Sawrey for their own use, and Mrs. Bolton received vegetables from Sawrey each week and sent back laundry.  That is a bag of golf clubs Johnny Town-Mouse is carrying on the book's cover photo.  The house-maid who discovers Timmy Willie in the basket is Mrs. Rogerson who worked for the Potter family when they stayed at Ees Wyke. . . .

credit:  Waymarking.com

A Year With Beatrix Potter & Friends - August

I hope you are having a pleasant summer!  It is beautiful here in the Lake District.  Jemima is going to continue on the south road around Esthwaite Water that Pig Blanding took at the signpost. . . . 

photo credit: Nigel Whitehouse/Guzelian

A Year With Beatrix Potter & Friends - July

Hello, Everyone.  It's a beautiful day in the Lake District.  I see Jemima Puddle-duck over there chatting with Pigling Bland. . . .

A Year With Beatrix Potter & Friends - June

Welcome back!  Last month we followed Jemima up to Oatmeal Crag where Tommy Brock and Mr. Tod had it out when Tommy Brock had the audacity to break into Mr. Tod's house and sleep in his bed!  This month's walk should prove to be a little less "exciting," but it does have its moments.  We'll begin this month's walk again at Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey. . . .

We will be passing Buckle Yeat where Ribby the cat lives.   Jemima has a tale to tell us about a most unfortunate outcome to a tea party. . . .

A Year With Beatrix Potter & Friends - May

Folks, you'll be glad to know Jemima has hatched her four ducklings and is ready to begin our tour of the Lake District.

I've provided our map once again just in case Jemima gets sidetracked, as she so often does.  She'll be taking us down the path from Hill Top, turning left onto to the main road, then a right up Stones Lane past Belle Green and Castle Cottage to Oatmeal Crag. . . .

A Year With Beatrix Potter & Friends - April

If you are a first-time visitor to this monthly Beatrix Potter & Friends post, you may want to view the earlier posts first:  January   February   March

It has come to my attention that our guide, Miss Jemima Puddle-Duck is otherwise occupied with nest sitting.  I am told that Mrs. Cannon, the caretaker's wife, has agreed to let Jemima hatch her own eggs after her earlier near-disastrous attempt.  So, we must content ourselves with a story about two bad mice in the meantime.

Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca were Beatrix's pet mice.  She'd rescued them from a cage trap at her cousin Caroline's in 1903 and wrote a story about them while there during a week of relentless rain.  Later, Norman Warne would provide her a photograph of the doll house he was building his niece, Winifred.  Beatrix's mother would not allow her to visit Warne's brother's home to see it for herself.  One commentator on the story felt, "The tale's themes of rebellion, insurrection, and individualism reflect not only Potter's desire to free herself of her domineering parents and build a home of her own, but her fears about independence and her frustrations with Victorian domesticity."  You can read Beatrix's letters, below, concerning the ordeal. . . .

A Year With Beatrix Potter & Friends - March

Jemima Puddle-duck, when we last saw her, was waddling down the lane wearing Tom Kitten's hat. . . .

A Year with Beatrix Potter & Friends - February

As you may recall last month Jemima Puddle-Duck agreed to be our guide for our walks in the Lake District. . . .

A Year with Beatrix Potter & Friends - January

Jemima Puddle-Duck by Beatrix Potter