The corner of this street caught my eye not long before leaving Hawkshead to get back to the campsite in Coniston:
Have just found out that it's part of the Beatrix Potter Gallery, a 17th century house that houses original drawings and illustrations by Beatrix Potter.
While in Hawkshead, it was impossible not to notice that the place was dominated not only by a kind of Wordsworth presence, but the aura of Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) too.
Quite shamefully, I know very little about Beatrix Potter other than that she wrote The Tale of Peter Rabbit and other children's tales featuring animal characters.
Have just discovered that Potter's most famous book, the Twenty-Three Tales, contains not only The Tale of Peter Rabbit, but also stories about such characters as Jemima Puddleduck; a hedgehog called Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle; a kitten called Miss Moppet etc.
I've also just read that in 1905, Potter bought a farm in Near Sawrey, a village between Hawkshead and Lake Windermere, and over the following decades, acquired many more farms to preserve the unique hill country landscape of the Lake District.
When Potter died, aged 77 in 1943, she left almost all her property to the National Trust, so she is often credited for preserving much of the land that now makes up the Lake District National Park.
Thus, through seeing the unusual-looking Beatrix Potter Gallery, and reading a bit about Beatrix Potter, I can see that her presence can still be felt in the Lake District, alongside the auras of Wordsworth; Coleridge; Southey; Ruskin etc.
Of course, before waving goodbye to Hawkshead, I paid my respects to Wordsworth through having a quick look at the grammar school that he attended:
And below, my friend, Alfie, can be seen inside the old Methodist church in Hawkshead village centre:
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