Beatrix Potter

[timv]

Hope you have a lovely holiday in the Lake District, Courtenay. If you've read Arthur Ransome, you may be know that he put Bowness-on-Windermere into his 'Swallows and Amazons' series as 'Rio'; AR used fairly exact descriptions of it and its surroundings in the 1920s when he moved back there (to Low Ludderburn in the Winster valley to the SE) from Russia/ Estonia. Bits of the lake also appear in the series, eg Blake Holme island down the lake from Bowness as one of the inspirations for 'Wild Cat Island' and Silver Holme as 'Cormorant Island', and the N end of the lakeside by Ambleside Roman Fort is the setting for the 'North Pole' in 'Winter Holiday'. More sites around and on Lake Coniston appear too, eg Peel Island as the other 'WCI' inspiration, and the Old Man of Coniston mountain is 'Kanchenjunga'; but I don't know if you'll have time to see those.The 1974 S & A film is particularly good on the first Ransome book's visuals as it was filmed on Windermere and Coniston; I live near the actress who played 'Titty'.

I've got a comprehensive guide to children's books sites in the Lake District coming out in 2019, with a small local publisher; it was intended to be the follow-up to the Blyton book but the way things are going it might come out before the latter. And as with Enid, a lot of the relevant books that were in print in the 1960s-70s (eg Geoffrey Trease, Marjorie Lloyd) are now hard to come by!

[Rob Houghton]

and Kendal Mint Cake!

I have a real weakness for Kendal Mint Cake - the light brown version, not the white!

[Eddie Muir]

I prefer the light brown version too.

[Courtenay]

Hope you have a lovely holiday in the Lake District, Courtenay. If you've read Arthur Ransome, you may be know that he put Bowness-on-Windermere into his 'Swallows and Amazons' series as 'Rio'; AR used fairly exact descriptions of it and its surroundings in the 1920s when he moved back there (to Low Ludderburn in the Winster valley to the SE) from Russia/ Estonia. Bits of the lake also appear in the series, eg Blake Holme island down the lake from Bowness as one of the inspirations for 'Wild Cat Island' and Silver Holme as 'Cormorant Island', and the N end of the lakeside by Ambleside Roman Fort is the setting for the 'North Pole' in 'Winter Holiday'. More sites around and on Lake Coniston appear too, eg Peel Island as the other 'WCI' inspiration, and the Old Man of Coniston mountain is 'Kanchenjunga'; but I don't know if you'll have time to see those.The 1974 S & A film is particularly good on the first Ransome book's visuals as it was filmed on Windermere and Coniston; I live near the actress who played 'Titty'.

I've only read Swallows and Amazons, but Mum has read all of them, or nearly all. The 1974 film is a favourite in our family too; haven't seen the recent one, but I'm aware they made major changes to the plot, and that almost always puts me off an adaptation even if it's otherwise a very good film. (It's sort of like a slap in the face to the late author: here's the story we think you should have written. ) I should some day get around to re-reading S&A some time and also at least some of the other books. "Better Drowned Than Duffers If Not Duffers Won't Drown" is a long-standing catchphrase in our family, after all.

[Eddie Muir]

In case anyone is puzzled by Courtenay’s catchphrase, here is a simple explanation from the internet:

It means that if they are duffers, it would be better if they drowned but, if they are not duffers, they won’t drown. The kids asked their Mum if they could go sailing on Swallow.

[number 6]

Hope you have a fab time in the Lake District, Courtenay! You'll love Hill Top Farm. The Tower Bank Arms pub is a quaint little place to refresh yourself before heading off. This was included in one of BP's books. Enjoy!

[Courtenay]

In case anyone is puzzled by Courtenay’s catchphrase, here is a simple explanation from the internet:

It means that if they are duffers, it would be better if they drowned but, if they are not duffers, they won’t drown. The kids asked their Mum if they could go sailing on Swallow.

Exactly — the quote is actually the telegram they received from their father when he was asked, which naturally baffles the children when they receive it — "What are duffers if not duffers?"

[Courtenay]

Hope you have a fab time in the Lake District, Courtenay! You'll love Hill Top Farm. The Tower Bank Arms pub is a quaint little place to refresh yourself before heading off. This was included in one of BP's books. Enjoy!

Yes — it's in one of the illustrations in Jemima Puddle-duck, when Kep the collie calls on the butcher's two foxhound puppies to help him deal with Jemima's "friend" the foxy-whiskered gentleman! You can clearly see the pub and its name in the background. I'll definitely look out for it when I'm there.

[Rob Houghton]

[Courtenay]

Yep, that's it — and here it is in real life. I will in all likelihood have lunch or dinner there while I'm visiting Near Sawrey in about a week's time.

I'm getting really excited about my trip — I can hardly wait!!

[Courtenay]

Well, my trip to the Lake District turned out to be the best holiday I've had in ages!! I only really explored the area around Coniston and Windermere, but I just loved it and will definitely have to go again another time. I drove in this instance, but public transport up there is surprisingly good, so next time I'll probably go by bus or train. It will be at a quieter time of year, though (maybe late autumn) — the one drawback of being there during the peak season in incredible summery weather was that a lot of places were crowded with tourists, including Beatrix Potter's Hill Top house! But that will be a definite must-see-again, as I just loved the house and village and the surrounding area.

I also managed, while I was there, to pick up the entire boxed set of Beatrix's original 23 "little books" at a bargain price (going cheaper because it was the display copy in the shop, but nothing actually wrong with the box or any of the books) — I've wished I could have them all since childhood, and waiting 30+ years hasn't dampened my enthusiasm! And I even bought the "new" Beatrix Potter book, The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots, with Quentin Blake's illustrations — it's now been published in the same size and binding as Beatrix's originals, to match them. As I said in an earlier post, although his crazy scribbly style is miles away from Beatrix's and I was cringing at it initially, it really does grow on one after a while — it's certainly very expressive and it does, in a funny way, suit this particular story, which is more action-packed and sometimes outright madcap (or just violent) than many of Beatrix's other tales. I actually find it quite hard to imagine it illustrated in her delicate, naturalistic, beautifully detailed style!

Another book I bought is The Fairy Caravan, which I think may be the only full-length novel Beatrix ever had published, but for some reason it was only published in America during her lifetime. It's now in print in Puffin Books with Beatrix's line drawings and several colour plates. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through reading it, but so far it's very good. Without giving too much away, it's the story of a guinea pig who runs away from home and joins a tiny travelling circus made up of several other animals. It's quite slow-paced and episodic, as it seems Beatrix made it up over a long period of time and wove a range of different stories into the overall narrative. I'm looking forward to going on with it, once I've done a bit more of my Peter Rabbit cross stitch — one of four kits I bought at Hill Top, by way of indulging my other addiction...

[Boatbuilder]

The Lake District is a beautiful part of our country but the weather can be so unpredictable. You were no doubt lucky with the weather as many will have been in recent weeks and it’s not really the peak holiday season until the schools finish in the next week so the visitor numbers will be even greater then.

I spent a few days up there in the winter one year about 30 years ago when my employer decided to run a team building course at an outward bound facility near the shores of Lake Windermere so we had to contend with snow and freezing conditions. The main activity that sticks in my mind was two of us had to navigate a motorised inflatable dinghy piloted by somebody from the facility out to a small island somewhere in the middle of the lake to locate an article that had been left on there. However, that was about 9pm when it was pitch black and the guy piloting the dinghy followed your instructions to the letter and never offered any help whatsoever. The only light we had was one powerful torch. Certainly not something I would want to repeat.

[Eddie Muir]

I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed your holiday in the Lake District, Courtenay.

[Rob Houghton]

Sounds like you had a good time. Courtenay - and returned with a few goodies - really nice souvenirs of the area. I have been to the Lake District four times, and each time we have been incredibly lucky with the weather. Friends always say 'I love the Lakes - but it always rains' - but we had no rain on any of our four holidays, except a very short shower which lasted a couple of minutes!

I also bought many of my Beatrix potter books from the Lake District - although I never bought them all in one go, I do have them all (except the Quentin Blake one!). I also bought them in the miniature versions, in drawer box sets - each book is a paperback measuring only a couple of inches high.

One book - The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies - has a special meaning to me, as it is (very loosely!) set around the manor house Gwaenynog Hall in North Wales, owned by Beatrix Potter's uncle Captain Fred Burton. Captain Burton also owned Broadleys Farm, which was where my dad's grandparents first lived when they came from Lancashire to North Wales - in fact Captain Burton built Broadleys for them to farm. So in a way we have a very tenuous link to Beatrix Potter (she visited Gwaenynog many times between 1895 and 1913) and many of the illustrations in The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies show parts of Gwaenynog Hall and gardens.

https://www.britainexpress.com/attracti ... action=744

[sixret]

Glad you enjoyed your trip, Courtenay.

I remember that you either have the Fairy Caravan or have read it but not owned it, Rob. I forgot which.