A Taste of Hill Top

Beatrix Potter didn't waste time wandering round a supermarket agonizing over the red labels for saturated fat and sugar on everything she fancied.  Nearly everything would have come from the farm or garden - just buying in flour, salt, sugar, bread from the baker and maybe some spices.

Hill Top cattle posing in Windermere

There are still beef cattle and sheep grazing Hill Top land but Beatrix also kept Dairy Shorthorns for milk, pigs, horses, an assortment of hens, ducks, geese and turkeys as well as collies (such as her favourite, Kep) to work the sheep.  She also grew oats and turnips - Beatrix says she 'singled the turnips when she had time'.

Pete's veg patch in Hill Top garden

Gooseberries amongst the flowers

There was also a productive vegetable garden - as there is today, thanks to Pete - and fruit trees bearing apples, plums, pears and damsons, not to mention fruits, such as blackberries from the hedgerows for making blackberry and apple jelly.
 Beatrix was nothing if not fair.  Whilst wanting to keep the best apples for herself, she appreciated the need for local children to 'scrump' - what is better than a stolen apple straight from the tree?  She tied ribbons round the trees the children could help themselves from but heaven help them if they touched the others!  At one time there was a royal procession of apple trees - Blenheim Orange, Norfolk Royal, King Russet and George Royal.

We think this old Bramley in the paddock dates from Beatrix's time

Animals would have been butchered on the farm - no traumatic journey to the slaughterhouse - and milk made into cheese and butter in the dairy.

In the left of this building in the farmyard the pigs were hung and salted and the right side was the dairy

Beatrix didn't like 'modern' machinery so most of the work would have been done using hand tools and horse drawn implements.  During the First World War, when men were called from the land to serve, life must have been particularly hard.  Writing to a potential employee, Beatrix explains that she did most of the cooking herself and also looked after the poultry, the orchard, flower and vegetable garden, as well as helping with the hay.  So she wasn't just digging sheep out of the snow!
So, what might she have cooked?  She was definitely familiar with Roly Poly Pudding and Pies and Patty Pans (perhaps filled with beef from the farm).  Lamb - or more likely the tastier hoggett (the next stage up from lamb - the year after it was born) or mutton, would have featured, perhaps with peas, beans and potatoes from the garden. Hill Top kitchen might have been filled with the smoke from bacon frying.

Without freezers, preserves such as jams and chutneys would have been important and she mentions a visit to Wray Castle where they were pickling walnuts.

So - no wasted time at the supermarket but still ...... whenever did Beatrix Potter have time to write and illustrate her stories?!
Sue and ticket office team. 
p.s.If you're wondering where Sam the spaniel is ,,, he was hiding behind the camera when I took the photo of cattle!

The Windermere Ferry and a Foggy Day

The car ferry across Windermere will be out of action all May, for its five year overhaul. We know that many of you enjoy the journey to Hill Top by taking the ferry option, but it is still very easy to get here by driving around to the north or south ends of the lake at Ambleside or Newby Bridge, and taking the lovely B-roads to Hawkshead. Hill Top is then only two miles away. Check with Cumbria County Council for the date when the service is back running again.

The ferry has been in use for over 500 years. (Not the current one, that was built in 1990!) It's purpose was to 'complete' the important direct road from Kendal to Hawkshead, and so avoid eight extra miles of walking around the top of the lake. In the early days people were rowed over the lake, but by the time Beatrix used the ferry to come up to Hill Top, having travelled to Windermere by train, it was a more substantial affair, as this picture from the Nineteenth Century shows:

from the Photocrom Collection: Library of Congress. Public Domain

Visitors, unfamiliar with the area, sometimes say that they feel like they have arrived off the ferry onto an island. Certainly the rolling countryside west of Windermere can feel very different to the busy east shore. The other morning I travelled to my work at the ticket office in thick mist, arriving for the 9.10 ferry with just two other cars. On the other side of the lake there was no-one at all to make the return trip. There was an eerie feel to the area around the Ferry House, the lake flat and smooth and silver, so that the little boats looked as though they had been etched onto a sheet of infinite paper.

 

 

 At Hill Top too, after such glorious spring weather, it felt as though we had fallen back in time; a glimpse of a different winter altogether.

By lunchtime the sky had cleared once more, and spring had re-established itself. My favourite time of year in the Lakes, daffodils opening out along the verges where only hours before they had waited as still as the air, visitors coming back to the ticket office to see where next they could go to explore and enjoy the day, blue-tits and chaffinches darting down to the windowsill by our front door to take the food that the house staff put out. After such an unpromising start, the day could not have had a better end. If you've never been to Hill Top this early in the season, perhaps this is a good year to come.

ticket office Ian

An enviable commute to work (Part one)

Caroline from the Business Support team, based at Hill Top, takes a look at her own, and colleagues', commute to work, we don't want to rub it in but your own commute may be slightly less appealing ....

Back in the Eighties and Nineties, my commute to work was via the very overcrowded District and Piccadilly Lines from South Ealing to Covent Garden and Kensington. Impersonating sardines and strap hanging, for up to an hour each way, now seems to be the epitome of a rat race lifestyle that I chose to leave behind over 20 years ago!

My commute for the last 12 years has been enviable, even by non-London commuting standards….

For just over 10 years I travelled up the east side of Coniston Water with views of the lake and The Old Man through all weathers.

There were a few mishaps…. a sliding on some black ice resulting in a near miss with actual lake water (eek!) and a coming-together with a pet food supplier in his big van but on the whole fairly minimal considering how narrow that particular lane can be….

Recently, I was on the Windermere ferry which crosses between Bowness and Ferry Landing and I sent a picture to my son in Edinburgh with a message saying that my life is blessed…. and so it is.....

It got me thinking that it would be interesting to find out my colleagues thoughts on their commute to work. South Lakes staff commute from all directions, some by bike, others by ferry and some have long journeys from as far away as Askam in the west and Penrith in the North, whereas others live next door!

They have sent me pictures and I have collected together a mini exhibition of commuter heaven for a blog gallery! Here it is….

Basecamp staff are very environmentally minded - they all share a lift to work and
this magnificent view of the Langdales is a favourite at all times of the year.

One of our VE assistants walks past the cake shop from the car park to the
Beatrix Potter Gallery and just can't help feasting her eyes on this beauty! (She obviously doesn't
indulge as she's very petite and slender but must have huge willpower!)

The is a rather hairy route from the Rusland Valley for one of our Visitor Services staff in
the depths of winter - the journey proved to be long and difficult but definitely rather impressive!

This VE Assistant commutes to work via bike AND ferry! Many of the staff who come to work
from the Kendal and Windermere area use the ferry rather than drive the extra
miles round the lake. On sunny mornings, it's a splendid start to a day and on warm summer evenings our hard working Ticket Office Manager has been known to catch a few zzz's on the journey over the water.

The road between Hawkshead and Hill Top - a road much travelled for staff that work between
Hill Top, the Beatrix Potter Gallery and Wray Castle, with a wonderful view of Esthwaite Water.
Our Conservation in Action assistants often work at all three places in one day!

One of our House Stewards took this amazing picture of a bracket fungus on her
way to work. She cycles up and over the hills of Grizedale Forest from Satterthwaite
and sees many fabulous views and it's not always about the view....

But sometimes it just is....

A view from the Newby Bridge road across hills and forests towards
the Howgills on a wonderful sunny morning

So, that's all for Part One, look out for Part Two in a few weeks time.

Post by Caroline, Business Support team (with a bit of help from her friends!)

Frequently (and not so frequently) asked questions

What does everybody need when they arrive somewhere after a long journey?  You've guessed !

Question:  Where are the toilets?
Answer:  They're in the garden, half way up on the right hand side but subtly hidden and you may be distracted by the garden!

The Toilets 

The garden

And a not so frequently asked question- but it does happen!
Question: How long have you lived on this island?
Answer: We just get the map out for this.

Crossing to the 'island'

Question: Where was Beatrix Potter buried?
Answer: Beatrix was a very private person.  She was cremated and her ashes were scattered by her shepherd, Tom Storey, in a secret location.

Question: When is the quietest time to visit?
Answer: A hard one.  Generally it's quieter in the afternoons but at very busy times you may find we've sold out.  Saturday and Sunday afternoons are often surprisngly quiet.

Question: The car park's full.  What should I do?
Answer: A few options: - You could come back in a little while when there may be spaces - but please don't wait on the road.
There's a car park in Far Sawrey.  The 30 minute walk along the off road footpath gives you a great rural introduction to Hill Top.

If you click on this you should see a bigger version !

 There's more parking, and a Beatrix Potter trail, at the Esthwaite Fishery pay and display car park round the bottom end of Esthwaite Water - about 40 minute walk up.
National Trust car park at Ash Landing by the shore of Windermere and a lovely walk up - mainly off road and takes about an hour.

Sam on the footpath from Far Sawrey

Question: Referring to the Windermere car ferry - can I buy tickets for Ireland on the ferry?
Answer: Another one for the map!

Question: We've got some time to wait before going into the House.  What can we do?
Answer: Sawrey House Tearoom and the Tower Bank Arms pub can provide you with sustenance.  There's an excellent children's play area with picnic tables just down the road.  The walk to Moss Eccles Tarn, following in Beatrix's footsteps (it was one of her favourite places) takes about an hour. Go beyond the tarn to get fantastic views over to the Langdales.
Alternatively, you could get tickets for later in the day and fit in a visit to Wray Castle or the Beatrix Potter Gallery.

Play area

Sawrey House terrace

Moss Eccles Tarn

Water Lilies were Beatrix Potter's favourite flowers.  She planted a white one and a pink one in Moss Eccles tarn and they have since spread!  On her birthday, 28th July, we pick some from the tarn for the House

Question: Which is the nearest Underground Station? - Yes, it happened!
Answer: We'd guess Watford but ........ unless you're talking rabbit burrows of course!


Ticket Office Team