The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Celebration of a true visionary
As fans celebrate the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter, Caroline Lindsay reflects on the enduring popularity of a woman whose much loved children’s books have their roots here in Perthshire
Arabbit contentedly nibbles the dewy grass in a Perthshire garden, unaware of the young girl sitting sketching nearby. As she draws, her pencil skillfully captures every detail of its downy form.
That little girl was Helen Beatrix Potter, born in London on July 28 1866 and remembered by millions of admirers around the world as Beatrix
And her subject? Beatrix’s pet bunny Benjamin Bouncer would be another key player in her story, as the inspiration for her best-loved character – Peter Rabbit.
It is his unforgettable adventures, and the series of tales which followed, which is being celebrated this summer in a programme of events in Perthshire and beyond to mark the 150th anniversary of the author’s birth.
Trudy Lindsay of the Beatrix Potter Society, founded in 1980 to help curate her material, said the countryside owed much to this visionary woman, whose passion for nature can be traced back to those childhood holidays in Scotland and whose reach is still felt far beyond the arena of publishing.
“We want to promote the study and appreciation of the life and works of Beatrix Potter, who should be remembered as not only the author of children’s stories but also a landscape and natural history artist, diarist, farmer and conservationist,” she says.
“She was a highly talented, strong minded, determined, astute businesswoman who guarded her privacy but was also prepared to stand up for what she believed in.”
Educated by governesses and isolated from other children (although she later observed: “Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality”), Beatrix and younger brother Bertram loved to draw and paint. In her teenage years, she regularly visited London’s art galleries and her talent for observation was recognised by Sir John Everett Millais, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and a friend of her father.
Her journal, written in her own code (and only decoded in 1958), reveals that Bertram and Beatrix often made intricate sketches of their numerous pets which included rabbits, mice, frogs, lizards, snakes and a bat.
When the family started holidaying in the Perthshire village of Birnam in 1870, it sparked a love of nature that resulted in stories now famous the world over. The long summer breaks in Birnam (from May to the end of the salmon season in October) brought the freedom to explore the surrounding countryside and were to be one of the most enduring influences on her development both as an artist and scientist.
In later life she remarked: “I remember I used to half believe and wholly play with fairies when I was
I remember I used to half believe and wholly play with fairies when I was a child
a child. What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood, tempered and balanced by knowledge and common sense?”
It was on one of these holidays that Beatrix wrote a picture letter that would provide the basis for her first book The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
Her own pet rabbits – Benjamin Bouncer, who apparently enjoyed buttered toast, and Peter Piper, who had a talent for performing tricks – came to Scotland with the family and became her main companions.
The letter was written to cheer up Noel Moore, the young son of her ex-governess, who was frequently unwell, and began: “My dear Noel, I don’t know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits...”
The adventures of the disobedient bunny, who ignores his mother’s warnings and breaks into Mr McGregor’s garden, were published nine years later in 1902 and went on to become one of the best-selling children’s books of all time.
A later book, The Tale of Jeremy Fisher, also started life as a picture letter to a child, with characters based on her study and exploration on the banks of the River Tay.
Another favourite, The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, was published in 1905 and is almost certainly based on the Potters’ old washer woman Kitty MacDonald at Dalguise.
In 1880, Beatrix’s parents Rupert and Helen Potter subscribed to a fund set up by the village station master John Kinnaird, to allow the building of a community centre for “education and entertainment”.
The result was the Birnam Institute, by Dunkeld, which opened in 1883 and is now home to an exhibition and garden celebrating Beatrix’s life and her creations.
Dave Amos, exhibition manager at the institute, says the Potters were among many wealthy English families of the time who travelled to this part of Scotland following the opening of the Dunkeld and Birnam Rail Station in 1856.
“Beatrix’s grandfather rented Kinloch House until 1861, which would have influenced her father who took various houses in the area, including Dalguise, an estate on the River Tay,” he explains.
“They would stay for months at a time coming by train from London complete with servants and horse and carriage, and these holidays would allow the Potters to invite various friends to stay for shooting and fishing.”
The present Beatrix Potter exhibition and garden at the institute has been running for 15 years and attracts around 7,000 visitors a year from all around the world.
Children are encouraged to look at their environment, be influenced by it and to use their imaginations just as the young Beatrix did, says Dave.
“I think her story books are still very much loved and read today because often they have been handed down from parent to child,” he adds. “Children love the way the animal characters come to life, and the lively pictures help tell the story in a way that is still appealing and relevant.”
Her story books are still very much loved and read today because often they have been handed down from parent to child