Authors and critics

Today the weather was slightly brighter, so we took the opportunity to head to the Lake District for the day.

The Lake District is geologically different to the Dales, and it has quite a different feel - the mountains are a different shape and the trees and colours seem different. Nature was a backdrop today though - we were on a literary quest: first stop, Beatrix Potter.

This is the entry to Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's home at Near Sawrey. She bought it with the proceeds of Peter Rabbit, and used it as a holiday home for many years - she didn't live there full time until later in her life.

The cottage garden was as you might expect...

And this was the view from the front door, through the garden and out to the wilder paddocks. This shot is deceptively free of tourists.

The door knocker...

Beatrix's formal parlour....

This book was based in the house, so there are parts of the house that match the illustrations...

For instance...

And also....

The landing too...

And the view out the window towards the lane...

These three paintings hang in her studio: the top one by her mother, the middle by her father and the bottom one by Beatrix.

The fireplace, as close as I could get to centring it and avoiding tourists! This features in Tom Kitten.

The view from the kitchen to the garden...

Looking back at the house. Only dull coloured tourists so less intrusive.

Predictable assemblage.

Awaiting bunnies...

The home paddock and the hill beyond.

In Hawkshead, a nearby village, Beatrix's husband, whom she married when she was 47, worked in this building as a solicitor. It is now a gallery showing Beatrix's work.

It was very cool inside - used as a solicitors' office until the 1980s, it was very 16th century!

Mock ups...

Sketches of Mrs Tiggywinkle

Two bad mice original

Squirrel Nutkin original. Can confirm that they are really like this!

Guinea pigs! Wish she'd done a book with them!

Holiday watercolour sketches

Become illustrations

After all of that, we went to Holly Howe for lunch! Bank Ground Farm at Coniston Water was the model for Holly Howe in Swallows and Amazons, and they have a tea room.

This is the field that Roger tacked up when the telegram arrived...

A view of the head of the lake, where the Swallows went for milk

Swallow boatshed

Captain Flint's houseboat (these boats were the model for it).

Kanchenjunga (Old Man of Coniston) - too windy to ascend.

Then after two children's authors, we switched to Ruskin, and extraordinary man of the nineteenth century: artist, art critic, political economist, activist, poet, designer, all round intellectual dude. This is his house, Brantwood, showing the alterations he made, which you can see have nods to his part in gothic revival and the Arts and Crafts movement. He was a believer in beauty, nature and hand made things. Hugely productive in youth and middle age, he suffered from terrible mental health in his later years - the expression 'burnt out' seems very fitting.

The rooms were beautiful - like Beatrix he kept rooms of interesting things: rocks, crystals, shells, man-made objects. The views were lovely too.

He designed the wallpaper.

The bow window in his study.

John tries to come to grips with Ruskin's romantic life (a problematic mess).

Ruskin's desk: 9,000,000 words written there. Doing better than I am!

The dining room - hard to convey how lovely this room was.

Ruskin when young...

The house also has an extensive garden. We walked to the top of the hill (surprised?) - view down Coniston Water.

Ruskin's seat in the garden

Some shots of the garden: large and small scale planting....

Lots of worthy literary endeavours.....a reminder not to take ourselves too seriously! (the Wordsworth museum was closed, hence no poets on this tour!).