The House That Peter Rabbit Bought

B.P. with the real Peter Rabbit, Hilltop House, and Friends

Tucked in a tiny Lake District village, Beatrix Potter’s house is just as you’d imagine from following the adventures of Mrs. Tiggy Winkles, Tom Kitten, and Jemima Puddle-Duck. Potter bought the 17^th century cottage called Hill Top in 1905 with the proceeds from her first book, the Tale of Peter Rabbit. She bequeathed the house (along with 14 farms she purchased) to the National Trust in 1943, leading to the establishment of the Lake District as a national park. A strong-willed and astute businesswoman, Potter left very specific instructions about her estate, even down to the type of sheep to be raised on her properties, which the National Trust now leases to tenant farmers. Her homey cottage, with its rabbit-friendly kitchen garden, overflows with her personal belongings—knitting left on the sitting room table, leather gloves strewn on a chair, pens and sketching pad at the ready in a sunny spot in the upstairs library, and letters to friends dotting cabinets and desks. If it all seems vaguely familiar, that’s because each room and the views beyond have served as backdrops in her beloved books.