Overseas Walk: Mrs Tiggy Winkle Walk

Mrs Tiggy Winkle Walk

IAge 15 t was a typically cloudy day in the Lake District of England. Mum and I had spent all morning tiki touring around the countryside, stopping at all the Beatrix Potter tourist sites. The last thing to tick off our list was a walk to Little Town. If you have read Beatrix’s book, Mrs Tiggy Winkle, you will remember Little Town as the small village that Lucie came from.

We located the walk at the end of a small country lane near a little village called Grange, which isn’t too far from a larger town, Keswick.

We parked our car in an unnamed car park on the side of the road, and set off. The walk started on a wide tar sealed road, lined with old rugged stone walls, which gradually narrowed to a rutted gravel track.

To our left were tall, majestic hills, forming a huge expansive valley around us. We were taking photos by the dozen

along the way, visualizing Mrs Tiggy Winkle and Lucie as we went. The route took us through a lot of farmland, the fields dotted with sheep of many different kinds. Most had big woolly coats and speckled black faces, while others were more slim with long curled horns. We also spotted the Herdwick breed which were Beatrix Potter’s favourite kind. They have pure white faces and their longish wool was a mottled grey brown colour, giving the impression they were wearing fur coats.

After half an hour, we descended a hill into the the aptly named hamlet of Little Town. It was very small, only

having a few whitewashed houses with gray slated roofs. The most surprising thing was when we found tearooms, which being in the middle of no where, was very random! But then, no matter where you are in England, there always seems to be tearooms!

After a good look around Little Town and even more photos, Mum and I set off again. We took another route back, though the countryside was much the same as on the way. We strolled through open green fields, enjoying the beautiful scenery of barren rolling hills and a sparkling lake in the distance.

Just before the car park, we passed by some old farm buildings called Skillgill Farm, where Beatrix painted the very first drawing in the Mrs Tiggy Winkle book. It is the scene where Lucie is talking to the kitten.

The all round leisure walk took us one and a half hours.

Left: Walking into Little Town.

Above: Hamlet of Little Town.

Below left: Beatrix Potter’s painting of Lucie from her book.

Below right: Leah walking along the start of the track.

Below left: Herdwick sheep.

Above left: Beatrix Potter’s painting of Skillgill Farm as in the Tiggy Winkle book.

Above right: Skillgill Farm as we saw it.