Beatrix Potter 'tour'

This is the view of Windermere from the Youth Hostel terrace.(Apparently, you shouldn't call it 'Lake' Windermere cos 'mere' means lake...) It completely took my breath away. This photo doesn't do it justice to be honest. Oh for a wide-angle lens!

This is the water feature in Mr McGregor's garden in 'The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction'. The kids both loved it and enjoyed doing the free quiz sheets to go with it. It was lush and green and healthy. My favourite bit of the place really :0)

Here is my small boy tracing the letters of one of the fruits they had to find for the quiz.

   

And here is my girl investigating bumble bee homes.

This is one of the exhibits in there. I was so surprised by how much the girl knew already. She told us all the stories as we went round. There was an interesting section in the middle with a timeline, photos and an interactive computer bit. i would have liked to stay longer in there but the kids soon wanted to move on after they had completed the puzzles.

   

Next day.....over the lake via a cablecar car ferry that is really a section of the B-road that goes to Near Sawrey and Hill Top, the home of Beatrix Potter...

We stopped to chat with Mr McGregor on the way.....

 

  ....to yet another beautiful garden.

We also visited the house, which is small and difficult because you can't touch anything and my children are very tactile (as are most children). The staff were lovely though and gave them books to go round with to spot the house in Beatrix Potter's illustrations. They were also excited by the fact that the animal characters were based on her pets. And to top it all, we saw a wild rabbit in the orchard!!

We also went to the Beatrix Potter Art Gallery in Hawkshead which they also enjoyed. The girl was VERY pleased that she got a goody bag for completing her quiz sheet this time :0) I made 2 notebooking pages on Cumbria for them before we went and a time line. This was also a useful site for activities to take with us, they both especially liked the spinner aka thaumotrope.

I downloaded loads of her stories from here and put them on a CD to listen to in the car on the way there. Variable quality of reading and hard to find English as opposed to American accents....they pronounce 'chamomile' differently. Hey, but it's free and a great resource. I use it lots :0)

Peter Rabbit related activities aimed at under 5s
Online Peter Rabbit quiz
 Beatrix Potter Unit
Peter Rabbit Lapbook
Jemima Puddle-duck lit-based unit and lapbook
Online jigsaw puzzle