On Tuesday, January 15th as we were on the road driving into Kendal, Darryl saw a sign for
The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction.
Being the wonderful husband he is, he passed up the shops in Kendal and headed for Windermere so I could go to what most people would consider a children's attraction.
Now here I must make a confession. As a child I remember my mother telling me the story of Peter Rabbit and Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail, but I do not remember her telling me anything about the other stories of Beatrix Potter.
When Cali and Shiloh were very little, maybe 1 and 2, I would take them to the library for reading time, to check out books and here I found several of the Beatrix Potter stories. We fell in love with her whimsical, but very anthropomorphic (human like), animal characters and it became a nap time ritual for me to read her stories to my little ones. Each one of my 7 children seems to have a favorite Beatrix Potter Story.
So for me, stepping into the dioramas of the World of Beatrix Potter was like stepping into one of her books and back in time when my children were so small.
Jemima Puddle-Duck
The Tale of Mr. Tod
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
Some dioramas were almost life size...
Others were small, window size... like
The Tale of Pigling Bland.
And others were very small and miniature.
(If you click on the picture it will enlarge so you can see the details.)
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.
Old Brown with his mice from Squirrel Nutkin.
The Tale of Mrs. Tiggywinkle
This display rotated with Mrs. Tiggywinkle going home on one side and Lucy taking her laundry up the hill to Mrs. Tiggywinkle.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle delivering the laundry.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle's kitchen with the flagstone floor looked so cozy.
One of the smaller displays is The Story of Miss Moppet.
The Tale of Two Bad Mice.
I liked the way you saw the floor of the house, the dolls' house and the home of the mice underneath it.
The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan which also revolved,
as did The Tale of Jeremy Fisher. This one even had the sounds of the pond and Mr. Ptolmey Tortoises grasshopper.
The Tale of Tom Kitten
With Darryl standing there you can see the size of the dioramas.
The Rabbits of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
If you look closely you will see the mouse with the large pea in it's mouth coming out from under Mr. McGregor's door.
Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail...
Mrs. Rabbit and Peter,
along with Mr. McGregor in his garden.
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.
This is a small model of Beatrix's Farm she bought in the Lake Country with the money made from her book The Tale of Peter Rabbit..., Hilltop Farm.
The was a wonderful interactive room and display on the life of Beatrix Potter.
All her life Beatrix loved animals and at one time had 2 pet rabbits, Peter and Benjamin, the inspirations for her stories. She used to take Benjamin for walks with a leash.
For me, the whole afternoon was wonderful, I just wish I could have shared it with my children who love these stories as much as I do.
(As we left the company van came up, so of course I had to get a photo.)
Now.... back to reality. More adventures to come.
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