National Trust - Hill Top — Attraction in Claife

Time capsule of Beatrix Potters life. This is Beatrix Potters home which she gifted to the National Trust, it was bought with the proceeds of her first book. She made the gift with the premise it should remain exactly as it was when she was living there. So, it is an absolute jewel.

I had seen the film Miss Potter, about her life. Being a Peter Rabbit fan I was keen to visit her home and see some of her personal mementos. She was inspired by the gardens and countryside surrounding the house and it easy to see why. A beautiful peaceful spot with lovely views of the countryside.

The house itself has 2 rooms downstairs to visit and 4 rooms upstairs. When we visited the weather was wet, very wet. You could imagine Beatrix being very cosy in her house, indeed the room downstairs had a fire burning in the grate. It really added to the feeling that she might suddenly pop out of a room and ask if you wanted a cup of tea.

Furnishings were dark and eclectic. Lots of carved wood furniture and lots of paintings on the walls including a number by her husband. On display of particular interest and charm are letters she wrote illustrated with some of her characters, these are upstairs.

Beatrix bedroom, also upstairs has a small 4 poster style bed. She must have been a very petite lady as there were also a pair of her slippers and they looked tiny. This was a lovely peep into her life. Many of the rooms have window seats to take advantage of the views and in many of the rooms are copies of her books to sit and enjoy whilst soaking up the atmosphere of the place.

The gardens looked lovely however it was such a wet day we didn't look around. On a lovely sunny day, this would be a gorgeous place to stroll. We headed to the gift shop to browse the Beatrix Potter themed gifts, many pretty items and a good number that would make great stocking filler extras as well as the practical ones like table mats,mugs and calendars.

The village is very quaint and abounds with floral decoration.

Entrance to Hilltop is fairly expensive if you are going on a standalone single visit ticket. £11.50 for a single adult visit and the visits are timed so you have to buy tickets first at the ticket office beside the car park up the hill then go back at the appropriate time. They check the time on your ticket as you arrive at the house, so don't miss your slot. I can imagine in high summer this would be a problem. The rooms in the house are quite small and the corridors are narrow so I can appreciate why they limit numbers.

Photography is permitted without flash. On a cold wet rainy day it can be quite dark inside.

No good for anyone in a wheelchair due to stairs and narrow access.

The guides all seem passionate and informed about the interior and the items there. We asked several questions and were given lots of interesting information...

You do have to be interested in Beatrix Potter to really get the most out of this. In my opinion it is very overpriced for what it is. On the day we visited we found the ticket office to be very pushy for wanting you to become a member of the trust- sign up for the national trust, become a member for £108 a year, you can pay by direct debit. Do you want a guidebook for a further £5. Do you want to gift aid? Really put me off the experience as you felt like you were a walking money bag. All the time you felt like the ticket office staff were trying to extract as much money as possible for you. When we visited there were many foreign tourists some who had limited English and I got the impression from seeing their transaction that their lack of English was taken advantage of, for example ticket sellers were selling these tourist a guidebook (in English) and gift aid membership, despite each member of the group asking for a ticket. Whilst I understand they could have refused, I believe the tourists in question had limited English and didn't really understand what they were been asked. There is timed entry here, this is obviously necessary at busy times and the house is quite narrow and small in places. The guides in the house are friendly, very knowledgeable and welcoming. The house is set up very nicely with you really able to see how Beatrix lived. The garden is nice to look around. It would be nice if it was made clearer to visitors where dogs are and are not allowed as during our visit a tour guide had to explain to a visitor about where their dog was allowed, this was handled very professionally and the visitor was highly apologetic and was genuinely unaware. Possible tours of the house, or an audio tour, or even a speech outside would be nice especially as the house has such a high ticket price. As well as this it would be nice to have a local area tour/ walk as Beatrix used lots of the village as inspiration, this could also ease congestion around the house and give visitors more information about Beatrix and her life in the village. Existing tours or guided walks could be better advertised as we were unaware of these when we visited. The gift shop has lots of Beatrix potter related gifts. The toilets could be maintained better, in the ladies one of the toilet door...

Absolutely beautiful! We bought our tickets online in advance and I would definitely recommend doing as the time slots were selling out so quickly. It was £15 per adult for a thirty minute time-slot, however we stayed for a couple of hours, as did many others, and nobody asked us to leave so I'm not entirely sure what the time slot idea what all about. It was a short walk from the carpark and a lovely gift shop on arrival. There were snacks and drinks available from a fancy snack wagon, selling organic and expensive, healthy produce. The gardens are stunning and the house itself is beyond stunning! It was busy and the house is naturally quite small inside so we had to shuffle around quite a bit and obviously it wasn't suitable for our pram or wheelchair access. There were plenty of friendly staff and volunteers around, ready with information to hand. It was a fascinating and memorable trip for sure! Its amazing to think that Beatrix herself organised how she wanted us today to view her home, down to the exact angle of her furniture! We were a little dissapointed to discover that she didn't actually live here though. She used it solely as a place of inspiration and creation, while instead living in the big white house directly opposite. It was absolutely worth a visit though and I would 100%...