If you go down to the woods .....

Every year I fall in love with autumn.  Trees and bracken cast off their summer uniform of green and more green and have a fling in yellow, brown and red.  Branches emerge to wave witchy fingers against the sky whilst, on the ground, toadstools appear to test our skills at identification.

We christened this one, found at Wray Castle, the 'Hot Cross Bun' fungus!

Ready for tea?

I could envy Beatrix Potter many talents but in autumn I wish I had her ability to paint fungi.  Not only did she make detailed botanical illustrations but she also conducted some pioneering research into their life cycles.  Her 'partner in crime' was a retired postman, Charles McIntosh, 'the Perthshire naturalist' who she met on holiday in Scotland when she was 26 and kept up a correspondence with.  At the time, scientists were mainly concerned with the micro fungi responsible for fermentation and diseases such as mildew so it was left to Beatrix to investigate the larger specimens.  This she did to much critical acclaim and it is something of a mystery why her paper on the subject was never published by the Royal Society.  The Armitt museum in Ambleside has a fascinating exhibition detailing Beatrix's life as a scientist, as well as other aspects of her life.

Beatrix Potter's painting of Amanita Muscaria Fly Agaric) from the Beatrix Potter Gallery collection

Look!  Ive found one.  Sam posing by some sort of Funnel (?) on his holiday in Scotland

Back home, he sent this Puffball/Earthball rolling down the hill near Claife Viewing Station.  He was disappointed it wasn't Hisball!

Beatrix - gardens and fungi

On last week's blog post, gardener Pete mentioned that there was a new book about Beatrix Potter coming out, focused on her gardening interests.


Marta's book is out on 24th October, reserve a copy through Hill Top shop

If you'd like to buy the book you can do so from Hill Top shop (prior to the 24th you can reserve a copy); buying from us not only do you support our conservation work but you get a fantastic Hill Top book plate to make it even more special. The Book Plate uses Beatrix's illustration of the Hill Top garden path from The Tale of Pigling Bland; and if you'd like to see her original illustrations from this book, the exhibition runs in the Beatrix Potter Gallery, Hawkshead until the beginning of November.


This is Beatrix's drawing, the view also appears in the photo below.

The author Marta McDowell needed photographs of Hill Top garden through the seasons for her book and as she lives in the USA popping along to take some photos from time to time just wasn't an option! Instead she used local professional photographer Dayve Ward, well known to us here on Beatrix's patch, and he did the 'popping along' for her. He put together a lovely collection of photos of the garden and house;  here are a couple of them...

 

 

Also featuring Beatrix Potter this month is the Armitt Museum in Ambleside which this week officially opened its new permanent Beatrix Potter 'Image and Reality' exhibition.



Screen capture of the Armitt museum webpage featuring the exhibition

As we've mentioned before on this blog, Beatrix was a very skilled botanical artist and drew and painted exquisite fungi illustrations; the originals can be seen at the Armitt. Over on our Wray Castle blog they've been taking a walk in Beatrix's footsteps; here are just two of the photos from the recent Wray Castle blog about the large assortment of fungi they found around the grounds - if you're interested in mycology check it out!

Finally, and keeping to the autumn, gardening and Beatrix themes, Marta has written her own blog post about Beatrix's family connections with chrysanthemums, you can read it on her latest blog post.



You can contact Hill Top Shop on 015394 36269;  or e-mail: hilltop.shop@nationaltrust.org.uk
You can follow Marta on Twitter;
You can find us on Facebook - rabbiting on about Beatrix Potter's patch;
You can see other photos from PhotographybyWard on his stock library

Countryfile presents Beatrix Potter - Mycologist

Julia in front of Wray Castle

Continuing Beatrix Potter's connection with BBC1 TV programmes (see our blog on 'The One Show comes to Hill Top'), she was also the subject of a feature in the Countryfile programme last Sunday evening. Presenter Julia Bradbury went to Wray Castle, where Beatrix used a family holiday there to scout out fungi and then produce wonderfully detailed watercolours of them.