Moshi, Moshi

This week Celestina, a member of our Hill Top house team tells us about something she particularly loves when it comes to working at Hill Top.

"Mushy Mushy! No, not sloppy peas but Japanese for Hi when answering the phone. Yes, I know it’s spelt  Moshi Moshi but my Dad had my brothers and sisters and I howling with laugher to think that you could answer the phone like it was  the menu from our lousy school dinners!

At eight years old dad regaled me with tales of his business trip to Tokyo and planted a seed of fascination in all things Japanese, so you can imagine my delight at meeting thousands of Japanese tourists and showing them around Hill Top. I’ve been practising my Japanese  and am chuffed to report  that I can now say hello, goodbye and thank you – and be understood! Dad would be proud of me!

Ready to welcome visitors, Celestina and her colleague Sachie in the iconic Hill Top porch

That’s the brilliant thing about working at Hill Top. You get to meet people from all over the world with a passion for Beatrix. It immediately creates a bond with people who appreciate her talents, her determination, her concern for the environment and her immense generosity of spirit. It cuts through language barriers, age differences and cultures. It never fails to give me goose bumps when I see someone’s eyes light up when I show them the little winding road out of the window in the New Room and then point to that very same road, painted beautifully, in The Tale of Samuel Whiskers…. ..no words are necessary for that magic moment!"

Look carefully in the top left and you can see the 'Sam Whiskers' winding road behind the roof tops

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Now for those who don't know it, the Japanese love visiting the Lake District, adore Peter Rabbit and particularly enjoy coming to see Beatrix Potter's Hill Top. Every season we welcome tens of thousands of them to Hill Top and the Beatrix Potter Gallery and no trip to the area is complete without visiting us.

Here's a group of tour operator representatives from a couple of years ago, at Hill Top, complete with giant Peter Rabbit....

In fact Beatrix Potter and her Hill Top is loved so much that the Japanese have built their own version in Japan, here it is caught on video (oh and expect a few animal characters first, Beatrix would have approved!).

If for any reason you can't see the video above, here is the link to go to it on You Tube.

post by Celestina from the houses team,
and Linda (Web Editor)