Beatrix Potter is perhaps the best-known author and illustrator of children’s books of all time. Visitors from around the globe flock in thousands to the picturesque Lake District farmhouse home, Hill Top Farm, in which she completed most of her charming water-colours.
Beatrix Potter was born in London in 1866, and she led a lonely Victorian childhood, kept away from the companionship of other children. She longed for the summer, when she was allowed to visit the Lake District and to roam amongst the stunning countryside.
As a young woman she studied art and natural history and she combined both in her career as a children's author, which began in 1901 when she was thirty-five. Her short stories were an instant success, with her first two books, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin selling very well. She ended up writing twenty three in all. The financial independence that her books brought enabled her to live her life away from her family constraints. She bought land in the Lake District with a view to setting up home in amongst her beloved mountains.
For her last thirty years she combined the roles of conservationist and sheep-farmer. With her burgeoning income she bought great tracts of Lake District land, which she donated to the newly-formed National Trust and thus preserved for the nation.
Her books have never lost any of their popularity. Today, they sell in millions and have been translated into dozens of languages. Before she died, Beatrix Potter wrote, "If I have done anything - even a little - to help small children on the road to enjoy and appreciate honest, simple pleasures, I have done a bit of good."
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