At a young age Beatrix Potter loved to draw flowers. No wonder she became a keen gardener and you can still view the famous garden of Hill Top today. It changes every season but you still can recognise the beehive Beatrix Potter drew for The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck and the famous green gate.
Hill Top Garden
When Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top she instantly became a gardener. She got her plants from her neighbours, and occasionally admitted to stealing them. In a letter she wrote: “I went to see an old lady at Windermere, & impudently took a large basket & trowel with me. She had the most untidy overgrown garden I ever saw. I got nice things in handfuls without any shame.”
The National Trust’s Senior Gardener Pete Tasker takes care of the garden now and if you want to know which plants and flowers grow at the garden at Hill Top, you can find out more in our plant guide.
Download PDFIllustration from The Tale of Tom Kitten by Beatrix Potter / © Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., 1907, 2002
Hill Top was home to Jemima Puddle-Duck, Tom Kitten and even Samuel Whiskers. Beatrix Potter wrote these stories and used the garden and Hill Top farm as an inspiration in her tales. Here we see the path leading to the house, taken from The Tale of Tom Kitten.
The Beatrix Potter Society rose was launched by our Patron, Dame Patricia Routledge, at the RHS Chelsea flower Show. This rose was to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of The Beatrix Potter Society in 2010. It is still available at Peter Beales Roses Ltd.
The rose is a delicate creamy pink coloured shrub rose with a subtle fragrance, reflecting a rose which Beatrix Potter herself painted.
Beatrix Potter Society rose / Peter Beales Roses
These books supply more information about the art, interests and writing of Beatrix Potter.
View PublicationsIf you want to know more about Beatrix Potter, you are more than welcome to join The Beatrix Potter Society. We welcome new Members worldwide.
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