What Is Hill Top Farm?
Hill Top is a modest 17th-century farmhouse in the hamlet of Near Sawrey on the western side of Esthwaite Water in the southern Lake District. It sits at the end of a narrow lane, fronted by a small garden that Beatrix Potter designed and planted herself, with fields and fell rising behind it. Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top in 1905 with the royalties from the first Peter Rabbit books. She filled it with the furniture, china, samplers and objects that appear in her illustrations, made its garden the model for the vegetable rows and hedgerow corners in her books, and left it to the National Trust on her death with the instruction that it be kept exactly as she had arranged it.
It has been. Of all the literary houses open to visitors in England, Hill Top is among the most faithful to its original state. The dollhouse on the landing, the blue and white china on the dresser, the patchwork on the bed: all are as they were when Potter used the house as her private retreat between 1905 and the early 1940s.
Where Exactly Is It?
Near Sawrey is a small hamlet on the B5285 road between Hawkshead and the Windermere car ferry at Bowness. The postal address is Hill Top, Near Sawrey, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 0LF. It sits roughly four miles from Windermere by road — but the road involves a ferry crossing of Windermere itself at Bowness, which adds both time and charm to the journey. By car from Windermere town centre, allow about 25 minutes including the ferry. On a guided tour from Windermere, your guide handles all transport and knows the ferry timings — which is the reason most first-time visitors find a guided tour the most stress-free way to get there.
National Trust Admission
Hill Top is managed by the National Trust and entry is charged for non-members. Current adult admission is approximately £12–£15 (always check the National Trust website for up-to-date pricing). Crucially for American visitors: members of the Royal Oak Foundation — the American membership organisation affiliated with the National Trust — receive full reciprocal free entry to Hill Top and all National Trust properties. It is worth checking your membership status before you travel.
Entry to Hill Top is by timed ticket in peak season (April to October). Tickets can be booked in advance on the National Trust website and we strongly recommend doing so if visiting between June and September — walk-up visitors who have not booked are frequently turned away during school holidays and bank holiday weekends.
What to See Inside
The house is small — deliberately so, since Potter was adamant it should not be altered — and visitors move through the rooms at their own pace guided by National Trust room stewards. On the ground floor, the entrance hall leads to the kitchen with its range and the collection of blue and white china that appears in several tales. The staircase leads to the upper rooms where the dolls' house sits on a landing, appearing directly in The Tale of Two Bad Mice, and the bedroom includes the patchwork quilt depicted in The Tale of Tom Kitten. Allow at least an hour inside the house itself.
The Garden
The garden at Hill Top is, for many visitors, the highlight. Potter designed it herself in the Arts and Crafts tradition, filling it with the cottage garden plants — roses, hollyhocks, foxgloves, herbs — that appear throughout her illustrations. The vegetable beds along the south side of the garden are, as closely as can be managed, the beds depicted in The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. The view from the garden gate over the lane to the fields beyond is one of the most recognisable in Potter's work. In the right season — late May through early July — the garden is at its most vivid. Allow at least 30 minutes in the garden.
Combining Hill Top with Hawkshead
Hill Top and the nearby village of Hawkshead are natural companions for a day visit. Hawkshead is about a mile and a half north of Near Sawrey and is home to the Beatrix Potter Gallery, housed in the building that was William Heelis's solicitor's office. If you have time for only one gallery visit in the Lake District, make it this one — the originals have a delicacy and precision that no reproduction conveys. Hawkshead also has good cafes, the 15th-century parish church of St Michael and All Angels, and the old grammar school where William Wordsworth studied.
Our guided Hill Top and Hawkshead tours cover both locations in a half-day from Windermere. The afternoon version adds a Windermere lake cruise.
Practical Information
Hill Top is closed on most Thursdays and Fridays (varies seasonally — always check the National Trust website). The house has no disabled access beyond the ground floor; the garden is largely accessible. There is no car parking at Hill Top itself; visitors arriving by car use a small National Trust car park a short walk away. Dogs are not admitted to the house or garden. The nearest railway station is Windermere, served by Northern Rail from Oxenholme.