Welcome to the world of Beatrix Potter and we're here at Hilltop for a
behind the scenes look at our upcoming exhibition with the V&A, 'Beatrix Potter Drawn to Nature'.
So we're here today at Hilltop which is the farmhouse of Beatrix Potter.
It was the first property that she ever bought here in the Lake District.
We should all strive to learn more about Beatrix Potter, finding the woman behind the characters that she made so famous
because she had so many talents, interests, and passions that really she found here in the Lake District.
The National Trust was an exceptionally important organisation to Beatrix Potter. She worked with the trust
to preserve thousands of acres of land here in the Lake District, and we continue to protect that legacy today.
Beatrix left over 4,000 acres and 14 working farms to the National Trust
including a treasure trove of personal items and watercolour illustrations from her books.
So through our partnership with the V&A on the Drawn to Nature exhibition
we're able to bring together two of the largest collections of Beatrix's personal items in the world
to showcase this journey that she takes from artist to farmer.
The role that the National Trust has played in this partnership is really crucial to telling
that broad story of Beatrix beyond her life as an artist, and through bringing in objects
that have never left Hilltop before, we can show her life as a conservationist,
and as someone who helped preserve the special places like where we are today.
Working with the team at the V&A and the team here at Hilltop we started with a long list of objects
that we then narrowed down to ensure that all aspects of her life as a scientist,
a conservationist, and an artist were told in the exhibition.
Well of course the care of these objects when travelling down to the exhibition was really important to us,
so they went en route to the Royal Oak Foundation conservation studio
where they were cared for and looked after before travelling onto the V&A.
The V&A has the world's largest collection of works by Beatrix Potter and it's really exciting to
bring them back to South Kensington because it was close to here that she grew up. She spent much of
her life just down the road at Bolton Gardens and she would come and visit the V&A very often.
What's really exciting about this exhibition is bringing together the collections of Beatrix Potter from the V&A
together with the National Trust to tell the broadest possible story we can
about her life and all of her achievements. So that's thinking about Beatrix Potter as
a natural scientist and as a conservator; as a sheep farmer as well as the much-loved teller of stories .
So my colleague Anne-Marie has been working on this for three years now actually,
and what she did was bring everything together into four sections.
So they'll come in probably knowing the story books but we hope that a lot more people will go away realising that her life went in lots of
different directions. She had this talent, she had this passion for nature, a talent for drawing, and
her life just veered in several different directions, and I think that's fascinating.
I think in an age where we're talking more than ever about the environment
and the world around us it's wonderful to look at the work of Beatrix Potter
and find inspiration at how she was looking at nature.
And to see her journey here in one place makes me feel very emotional and very connected to her story
because it's such a contemporary story. She had the courage to follow a journey that made
her happy, a life that made her happy which not all of us always have the courage to do.
But it's also so connected to protecting open green spaces and places that make you feel happy for others to enjoy.
So what was really wonderful when we put the exhibition together is that we
knew we wanted it to be fun for families and young people and adults.
We wanted everyone to come in here and experience the journey that Beatrix went on. And the costume section we really
wanted to show because it relates to the story of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle. Mrs Tiggly-Winkle of course does
the laundry for a lot of the beloved characters including Jemima Puddle-Duck and Peter Rabbit.
So the dressing up section, not only did we want to give people an opportunity to see themselves
in Catbells which is the smallest fell in the Lake District, but also allows them to
put themselves in that world and experience a bit of the Lake District here in London.
I hope visitors also come to the gallery and feel that emotion that Beatrix had,
that connection she had to the places that she loved. I hope they too will be inspired
to protect those green spaces and make sure they last forever and for everyone.