Today turned out to be a wonderful day weather wise so Kaye and I drove over to Coniston Water, a lake just West of Windermere, another source of inspiration for Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons.



I hired a small electric boat for 4 hours and set out down the lake to find Peel Island (aka Wildcat Island from the book). Along the way I saw a number of buildings (eg: Brantwood) along the waters edge which looked like they could have been candidates for Holly Howe, the house where the family in the book stayed during the holidays. Likewise there were a few boat houses which could have been the ones used in the movie.



After an hour (or many a year, if Titty were telling this story) or so I arrived at Peel, no, Wildcat Island. I chugged, nay, whirred my way around to the secret harbour and carefully made my way into the sheltered cove.



Once safely tied up, I waded onto shore and took a tour around the island. I found the camp site and landing place, as well as some of the Holly bushes as seen in the movie. I even spied some savages in their war canoes, lucky they didn't see me!



Satisfied that, after 20 years, I'd finally visited Wild Cat Island, I set off back up the lake towards Coniston to pick up Kaye for the last hour and a bit of the voyage. We took some more photos of buildings that turned out to be the actual home and boat houses used as "Holly Howe" in the movie. I was convinced these were the right buildings, but even more so after seeing the names on the sail boats moored just in front of them :)



Back at Coniston we drove to Ulverston where Stan Laurel was born - we visited what claims to be the world's only Laurel and Hardy Museum.



Near the Museum I spied some rather strange bikes parked near the estate agent's office.



Back home and a well earned rest for this little adventurer!

While Leigh was as happy as a pig in mud boating on Coniston Waters I was left to my own devices. And it was time for my very first drive in England. Yes, the roads are tree-lined, picturesque and as narrow as they are in the movies! And yes, at times there really is only room for one car. But venture on I did. Sorry, all the pics that go with this adventure are on the real camera and wont be developed until we get home again.

From Coniston I headed back north and around the top of Coniston Waters to Hawkshead. They have made Hawkshead a pedestrian friendly town so I only managed to travel down a few ‘No entry, for access only’ roads. At first I thought I was going the wrong way down a one-way street but thankfully it wasn’t –that– bad.

Anyway, back to the real stuff. Hawkshead is the home of the Beatrix Potter Gallery which is in the building that use to be her husbands solicitor’s office. The lower floor is set up as it was when he was practicing here and the upper floor contained Beatrix Potter writings and drawings. It was very dimly lit so hard to fully appreciate her work. All the shop fronts and external features are from 50-100 years ago while the contents are modern day.

After wandering through the town I set off to find Hilltop, the former home of Beatrix Potter. Knowing that it was in the area and having a rough guide from a map, I actually just managed to stumble upon it as I came around a corner. Hilltop is not very well signposted, but then again, with the amount of visitors they get without signposts I guess they really don’t care J

After a false start I headed south from Hawkshead along the western shores of Esthwaite Water. Yet another pretty lake with people boating and fishing from the shore. Knowing Hilltop was on the other side of the water, I followed the road around the bottom of Esthwaite and up the other side to Near Sawrey. I should have known that the English would actually call the place ‘Near Sawrey’ rather than the references I had seen meaning a place near ‘Sawrey’. Anyway, when I came to a T-junction there was a sign to Hilltop car-park so all was well.

Hilltop is part of the village and getting to the entrance includes a walk along the road. Lots of colourful gardens, not just the plain green you see a lot in Australia, these guys know how to grow a large variety of colourful flowers, many of the gardens growing tulips. There were also examples of the walls of the houses forming the side of the road. I find this a rather scary proposition. I wouldn’t want to have a road-corner bedroom in one of those places.

A two-storey house, small rooms, but more rooms than most around here. Most of the contents that you would expect to see from a house at the beginning of the 20th century. One peculiar item, a pair of china book ends each of a dog carrying a dead rabbit in its mouth, struck me as strange for the nature lover that Beatrix Potter was. Right era, but I’m not sure they would have actually belonged to her. She and her husband donated more than 20 properties to the National trust upon their deaths including Hilltop and the office in Hawkshead.

Time to head back to Coniston to meet Leigh for a ride on Coniston Waters, so I continued up the east side of Esthwaite Water and back to Coniston via Hawkeshead. In Hawkshead I found the quicker route to Hilltop – but at least I had a scenic drive they way I went!