Next morning we drove from Bowness to catch the car ferry across to Sawry which is across Lake Windemere. We had about a wait of 20 mins and we took a few photos while we were waiting.
We drove then to Hilltop – Beatrix Potter’s house. We purchased our tickets and our scheduled time for the walk-through was 10:40. This gave us plenty of time to walk through the quaint gardens, and take photos. The garden is just like in the scenes in the movie. Beautiful gardens full of flowers and all sorts of rambling plants. I managed to get a few photos without anyone in front of the house.
As we walked into the house each child was given the book “The Tale of Samual Whiskers” as the drawings in the book replicate many features in Beatrix Potter’s house, like the fireplace, the kitchen, the ratty hole upstairs, the furniture, etc. So it was wonderful to see Braedon find them all in the book and match them to the house.
I didn’t really want to leave and you could walk through the house a few times and pick up something new each time.
Our next stop was Hawkeshead, a lovely quaint little village, where Williams Wordsworth was born and raised. We walked through the village and visited the old schoolhouse where he went to school. We found out some interesting facts about school life back in the 1800’s. Such as starting time was 6.00am and finish time was 5.00pm.
Only boys were allowed in the school, girls had to stay at home and often had governesses and tutors. Each boy could have 3 pints of beer during the day, as the drinking water was not good. They could smoke four cigarettes (they were neither encouraged nor discouraged from this activity. They could also participte in cock fighting as well.
They were also allowed to gouge their mark in the wooden school furniture, so we also found William Wordsworth's name engraved on one of the desks. The school was very small in size but at one stage had about 150 boys there, once the railway line was established many of the boys were sent to other better schools and the school eventually close down. Braedon had a try at writing on the slates which was quite funny.
Upstairs there were some old bookkeeping documents that Beatrix Potter found in her shed – as her husband was the accountant for the school. All in all very fascinating.
We left Hawkeshead and drove back through Ambleside and then onto Bowness. Time for a bit of shopping again, and then we purchased tickets for a cruise on Lake Windemere. Which basically cut across the lake on one side and then back on the other – we got some lovely pics of the view from the water. It was absolutely freezing upstairs on top of the boat – however, the views made it worth it. On the way back though Braedon and I went downstairs to have a hot chocolate. It was much warmer so eventually, we warmed up.
We arrived back – still daylight of course, and as promised took Braedon to the fair, which was open tonight. Braedon and I had a ride together and then we talked Mum into having a go with us. Well that was a bit of a mistake, mum succumbed to peer pressure and as it was a little fast mum was quite ill after the ride. I must admit even I wasn’t that well as the hot chocolate we had earlier had turned into a thick shake.
Well after this even Mum and I didn’t feel like much dinner, so Ian and Braedon had fish and chips. We got back to our B&B at about 8.00 and I had a cup of tea, which made me feel a bit better.
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| Taken before we boarded the ferry |
We drove then to Hilltop – Beatrix Potter’s house. We purchased our tickets and our scheduled time for the walk-through was 10:40. This gave us plenty of time to walk through the quaint gardens, and take photos. The garden is just like in the scenes in the movie. Beautiful gardens full of flowers and all sorts of rambling plants. I managed to get a few photos without anyone in front of the house.
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| In front of Hilltop |
As we walked into the house each child was given the book “The Tale of Samual Whiskers” as the drawings in the book replicate many features in Beatrix Potter’s house, like the fireplace, the kitchen, the ratty hole upstairs, the furniture, etc. So it was wonderful to see Braedon find them all in the book and match them to the house.
Beatrix Potter was an avid collector of antiques and all sorts of bric, brac which today are antiques. Plenty of lovely engraved, ivory wooden boxes and writing boxes. It was fascinating to see her writing desk where her pet rabbit sat and watched her write her stories.
I didn’t really want to leave and you could walk through the house a few times and pick up something new each time.
Still, we were in there about an hour. Another look in the shop, some purchases of some of Beatrix Potter's books which have a slip of paper saying “Purchased from Hilltop”.
Our next stop was Hawkeshead, a lovely quaint little village, where Williams Wordsworth was born and raised. We walked through the village and visited the old schoolhouse where he went to school. We found out some interesting facts about school life back in the 1800’s. Such as starting time was 6.00am and finish time was 5.00pm.
Only boys were allowed in the school, girls had to stay at home and often had governesses and tutors. Each boy could have 3 pints of beer during the day, as the drinking water was not good. They could smoke four cigarettes (they were neither encouraged nor discouraged from this activity. They could also participte in cock fighting as well.
Upstairs there were some old bookkeeping documents that Beatrix Potter found in her shed – as her husband was the accountant for the school. All in all very fascinating.
We arrived back – still daylight of course, and as promised took Braedon to the fair, which was open tonight. Braedon and I had a ride together and then we talked Mum into having a go with us. Well that was a bit of a mistake, mum succumbed to peer pressure and as it was a little fast mum was quite ill after the ride. I must admit even I wasn’t that well as the hot chocolate we had earlier had turned into a thick shake.
Well after this even Mum and I didn’t feel like much dinner, so Ian and Braedon had fish and chips. We got back to our B&B at about 8.00 and I had a cup of tea, which made me feel a bit better.
