This is the compelling story of the real Beatrix Potter, based on interviews with those who knew her. Spread over the 40 years that the author edited Cumbria Magazine, these interviews recall memories stretching back to the time when Beatrix bought the now famous Hill Top farm at Sawrey in the heart of Lakeland. She was already internationally acclaimed for her series of 'Peter Rabbit' books and her local status was increased when she married William Heelis, a Hawkshead solicitor. The books gave her the means to purchase over 4,000 acres of land, which on her death in 1943 was bequeathed to the National Trust as her personal legacy to the Lake District. The many archive and present-day photographs in this fully illustrated book place a new light on the Lakeland years of Beatrix Potter. Pride of place is given to the breed of sheep that she did so much to foster - her beloved Herdwicks.