Beatrix Potter was an accomplished botanical illustrator, a sheep breeder and farmer, a wife, and a conservationist greatly devoted to her home, the Lake District of England.

The royalties Potter made from the sales of these small books, together with a slim inheritance, allowed her to buy Hill Top Farm in Far Sawrey, in the Lake District. This house is now a popular tourist attraction, owned by the National Trust and open from Easter until the end of October.

There, she learned to be a farmer and began to buy other properties around Sawrey, to increase her holdings and to save old buildings and small farms from demolition. She was influenced by Canon Rawnsley (Canon of Carlisle since 1909), who was the Honorable Secretary of the National Trust. Her involvement in the Trust's acquisitions in the Lake District, to preserve the integrity of the English countryside, became a life-long commitment.

Beatrix farmed the indigenous Lake District Herdwick sheep; in the 30s and 40s, her Herdwick Sheep won many prizes at national shows. She also learned to train sheep dogs

When she died at her home in 1943, Beatrix Potter bequeathed more than 4,000 acres of farms and her cottages and her flocks of Herdwick sheep to the National Trust. The Lake District continues to be one of the most rural, untouched corners of England. Beatrix Potter is remembered for her illustrations, her fine herds of Herdwick sheep (the breed, found nowhere else, still exists on farms throughout the Lake District) and her love and preservation of this corner of north western England.

Beatrix Potter is best known for her charming children's books, such as Peter Rabbit and Jeremy Fisher. These little characters were created at first in illustrated letters she sent to children whilst on holiday in the Lake District.

Beatrix Potter stayed many times in the northern Lake District, on the shores of Derwent Water at Lingholm and Fawe Park.

Whilst there she sketched and wrote Squirrel Nutkin, who lived on the shores of Derwent Water, and boated across to an island to see "Old Brown" the tawney owl. Whilst at Fawe Park she was inspired to create Mr McGregor's garden for Benjamin Bunny, and "Mrs Tiggywinkle", the hedgehog washer woman, was brought to life when she visited a farm in nearby Newlands Valley.