NOTE: Booking closes on 31 March 2025
In September 2018, I visited the Lake District for the first time. The reason for going was a wonderful book I got years before, a book about Beatrix Potter's life in the Lake District. I travelled to Near Sawrey, the idyllic North English village with its beautiful whitewashed cottages with slate roofs, where Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top farm in 1905 with the proceeds of her first little book, Peter Rabbit. Hill Top was the base from which she worked, initially on her little books, but over time her interest shifted increasingly to farm life and her work to protect the Lake District. She started breeding Herdwick sheep, a rare Lake District breed, and dedicated herself to the work of conserving the area by buying land, farms and cottages.You can read a short biography about Beatrix Potter on the ‘About Beatrix Potter & Hill Top’ page.
Today the picturesque village of Near Sawrey is still beautiful and Beatrix's farm Hill Top also remains today, as she left it, because that was her condition when she left the farm to the National Trust after her death in 1943, along with most of her other possessions.
Since the first time I visited the Lake District, many more trips followed to this beautiful area in the north of England. Over the years, I made many magazine features there, in words and images and I photographed personal work, always happy to be back. During my trips to the Lake District, I also often revisited Near Sawrey and the surrounding hills and valleys. There I continued to explore what Beatrix Potter meant to the Lake District.
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Alle foto's © Anna Rubingh
The Trip
When: Monday 22 September - Friday 26 September 2025
Where: Lake District National Park | England
Theme: The Lake District in Beatrix Potter's footsteps
Where we will stay: Yew Tree Farm, the iconic 17th century farmhouse in Coniston
Price estimate: 2675- 2950 euro per person
Number of people: 4-6
Sign-up: You can email me if you are interested in participating, we will select exact dates for the Beatrix Potter Lake District Trip 2026 later in the year.
On this trip I will take you to Beatrix Potter's Lake District, the beautiful hills around Near Sawrey, the village where Beatrix Potter lived. And of course we visit Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse which still looks just as she left it. We will walk in the footsteps of Beatrix Potter, through the village into the hills to the tarn (small lake) where Beatrix Potter could often be found in the evening, Moss Eccles tarn. On another day, we walk via lake Esthwaite Water to the beautiful medieval market town of Hawkshead, a walk that Beatrix Potter must have made regularly.
The cottage on our stay is equally special. We will be staying at the old farmhouse Yew Tree Farm, once owned by Beatrix Potter who left it to the National Trust. The house has a traditional antique interior and is beautifully situated. There are 3 comfortable bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and outside is a hot tub. This historic farmhouse stands in the yard of a real Lake District farm. There you can learn about Herdwick sheep, the native Lake District sheep breed. Jo, one of the farm's owners, will tell you all about Herdwicks during a Herdwick Experience on the farm. Herdwicks are the sheep Beatrix Potter had her heart set on. Her love for the breed ensured that the then already rare breed revived.
From Yew Tree Farm, it is a 15-minute walk to the beautiful Tarn Hows, a lake with stunning, picturesque views, also once owned by Beatrix Potter who said of it, ‘The view is a little too dramatic to my taste.’ Anyway, the views are beautiful and you can do some very nice walking.
It will be a trip with breathtaking views and beautiful walks. We will discover the Lake District following in Beatrix Potter's footsteps. Beatrix Potter has meant a lot for the preservation of this beautiful area, without her it would probably look very different today.
Of course, there is also time to relax and get away from it all. The surroundings and the farmhouse are beautiful!
After the daily adventures, we will have a nice dinner at the farmhouse, a real English farmhouse dinner of course, and relax by a cosy fire.
On the last day, we visit Alison O'Neill, shepherdess. Alison runs her One Woman Farm farm just outside the Lake District in the Yorkshire Dales. Her 'fibre flock' are a friendly flock of sheep she keeps for wool. She will give us a warm welcome together with her Border Collie Shadow
On the page About the Trip you can read more about the activities on this trip.
Included:
- Four nights in the beautiful Grade II listed Yew Tree Farmhouse in Coniston
- Four nights homecooked English farmhouse dinner
- Full breakfast and lunch, the Farmhouse way, one or two picknick-lunches (if the weather allows it)
- Tea, coffee, water and homemade lemonade in het Farmhouse
- Fruit juice and dairy with breakfast and lunch a glass of wine with dinner (or Alle entrees/ homemade lemonade)
- Typical English treats, like homemade shortbread koekjes, scones en cakes
- All entrance fees
- All transport for the tour
- Visit to Beatrix Potters Hill Top, home and garden
- Guided walks through Beatrix Potter’s Lake District
- Visit to the old market town Hawkshead
- Herdwick Experience on Yew Tree Farm, get to know the Lake District Herdwick sheep guided by Jo Mc Grath, co-farmer and artist on Yew Tree Farm
- Full trip guiding by Anna Rubingh
- Enough time to relax in and around Yew Tree Farm.
- A visit to Alison O’Neill, shepherdess incl. morning coffee, tea, scones and cakes and a tour on her ‘One Woman Farm’
- Lunch on the last day at Fairfield Mill in Sedbergh, an old wool mill, now a place for artists to have their studio and show their work, with a nice shop to buy that beautiful local artwork
- Optional (and not included) a walk on Friday afternoon guided by Alison O’Neill, shepherdess in the Yorkshire Dales, the place where she grew up and lived all her life.
Not included:
- Travel to and from the Lake District (zie reiswijzer voor reistips)
- Extra drinks
- Travel insurance
- personal expences
- An optional walk on Friday afternoon guided by Alison O’Neill, shepherdess in her Yorkshire Dales
Att: . Although I am a professional photographer, this is NOT a photography trip. You can shoot beautiful photos while on this trip, and I can give you some tips and tricks, the focus of this trip is discovering Beatrix Potter's Lake District.
