The World of Beatrix Potter, Bowness-on-Windermere

...for my family was to the Lake District and one of the attractions we decided to visit was Beatrix Potter as there was no way you could go to the Lakes without taking in this attraction or visiting 'Hilltop' where Beatrix lived. We opted for the attraction as felt that maybe this would be more appealing to all of use than just going to look at where Beatrix used to live with not much else there and we all love the tales of BP.

Getting ...
...take the A591 towards Keswick turning off onto the A592 towards Newby Bridge with the attraction being located in Bowness town centre. Alternatively you could take one of the Windermere ferries from either Lakeside or Ambleside or take the unique car Ferry that runs from Ferry House at Far Sawrey to Ferry Nab just South of Bowness. We took a slightly different route as we where staying in the South Lakes, the A590 then onto the A592.

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This years holiday for my family was to the Lake District and one of the attractions we decided to visit was Beatrix Potter as there was no way you could go to the Lakes without taking in this attraction or visiting 'Hilltop' where Beatrix lived. We opted for the attraction as felt that maybe this would be more appealing to all of use than just going to look at where Beatrix used to live with not much else there and we all love the tales of BP.

Getting there is fairly straight forward, Junction 36 off the M6, take the A591 towards Keswick turning off onto the A592 towards Newby Bridge with the attraction being located in Bowness town centre. Alternatively you could take one of the Windermere ferries from either Lakeside or Ambleside or take the unique car Ferry that runs from Ferry House at Far Sawrey to Ferry Nab just South of Bowness. We took a slightly different route as we where staying in the South Lakes, the A590 then onto the A592.

Parking is a nightmare in Bowness during peak season with no actual parking facilities as the attraction other than for disabled, even the disabled parking has to be pre-booked. Try you luck at the nearest car park which has 250spaces which if coming from the South is on your right just past The World of Beatrix Potter which is on your left or from the North, just before on your left. The car park is a pay and display and if I remember correctly was around GBP8.00 for the day to park once you had found a space, a lot of circling and hovering is required. There is another car park a bit further away with 750 spaces but not as convenient for the attraction.

Access to The World if Beatrix Potter is via steps or a steep slope, hence the disabled parking being the only parking which avoids both of these fortunately otherwise this would not be a suitable attraction for the disabled. Upon entering you are treated to a small snippet of what is to come, a lovely big Peter Rabbit up above eye level for you to look at and a large map of the tour showing you the route you will take. There are lots of things to look at and direct access to the Tea Room and Gift shop without having to pay the entrance fee if you don't fancy the tour itself. Remember to look up wherever you go there are things to see that you would miss if you're not careful.

Entrance to the tour - currently priced at GBP6.00 for adults and GBP3.00 for children, guide books are GBP2.50 and personally think that theses where a waste of money as very thin and did not give that much information, though we where spoiled with a guide at the South Lakes Wild Animal Park, 100 glossy pages for GBP2.00. Children receive Peter Rabbit ears to wear, the paper kind that basically wrap around your head with a few adjusters to slot in the other end of the strip a bit like a head band, my two teenagers where not impressed at this but they do come with every children's ticket, didn't make them wear them though.

The tour starts with a short film about Beatrix Potter and you may have to wait outside the main door and sit on the 'toadstools' until the previous showing has finished, no more than 10 mins though so not too long for little ones.

Once the film has finished you move into the main attraction itself, this is not a guided tour and you are free to take you time but no touching allowed - you can pre-arrange a touch tour with a guide but again advance planning is required.

For the main tour you are catapulted into the world of Beatrix Potter with an extremely well thought out route and the decoration along the way is like walking through all of Potters tales. From floor to ceiling nothing has been overlooked, from Mrs Tiggiwinkle doing her laundry in the kitchen, Peter and Benjamin sneaking into Mr McGreggors garden and Jemima encountering Mr Fox, nothing has been left out. The detail is outstanding down to the leaves on the trees and the recreation of the reeds for Jeremy Fisher. Peak through the windows and creep through Mr McGreggors greenhouse to find poor Peter trapped in the netting, all the scenes depicted are recreated from the original illustrations as near as I can remember them which really does give this place a magical feel. Feel free to takes as many photographs as you want but remember not to touch. One thing I felt let down with was in the leaflet we had picked up at our campsite they had promised sights, sound and smells, no smells that I noticed sorry to say.

As you walk through all 23 tales of Beatrix Potter there are small interactive touch screens in each area which provides you information about the tale and is available in quite a few different languages. Simply touch the language you require and read away, the only down side to these is you have to let them run before you change language and start again especially if you have somebody just in front of you that presses and walks without reading. The information is not long but this could be irritating for some.

About three quarters away through the tour you enter a more spacious part of the tour, just before Mr McGreggors greenhouse where there are puzzles to be solved and interactive screens which have virtual walks around the area and you can also find out more about Beatrix Potter with a short film and time-line. There are only 3 seats for the interactive bit but you can always watch and if you don't fancy hiking around the Lakes this is another way to see some of the beautiful scenery and places that you may never get to visit in person.

Right at the end of the tour is a small booth where you can have your photo taken with Peter Rabbit, simply sit on the bench and press the button; this is the only area where you are not allowed to take your own photos as you can buy these in the gift shop.

As you can guess as with most attractions these days the exit is through the gift shop and this is one occasion we did stop to have a browse and picked up a couple of bargains such as The World Peter Rabbit & Friends complete story collection reduced to GBP3.99 and a couple of window transfers or Peter Rabbit which my daughter fell in love with.

The attraction also has a tea room called The Tailor of Gloucester Tea Room but we did not choose to visit on this occasion but it did look very appealing and was quite busy. I also omitted to pick up a copy of the menu so I could refer to it whilst writing this review but ho hum can't remember everything, must be my age.

There are parent and baby changing facilities and easy access to toilets for all whether paying for the tour or not and a outdoor terrace to sit in with a cool drink or just for a quick rest. We choose to shoot across the road to the Tesco Metro grab a couple of sandwiches a few drinks and sit on the grass by the ferry, take care the swans will follow the slightest rustle of any bag.

We did spot a couple of children painting plaster models of Peter Rabbit near the entrance to the tour but saw no obvious signage as to how much this was.

Overall I was this was better than I had anticipated and more than you initially imagine as from the main road the building looks very small but I feel they have made the best use of the space. Both my children really enjoyed this and took many photographs (not leaving daughter in charge of the camera in the future, over 100 photos here). Not enough to warrant a full day at this attraction but there is plenty more going on in Bowness to keep you occupied, whether window shopping or one of the many ferry cruises around Windermere, return visit, maybe but think if in the area again we will be looking to go somewhere we haven't already been to as don't think this has the pulling factor to drag us back there that other attractions have.

For more information and special events through the year visit www.hop-skip-jump-.com ( I love the web address)

Also appears on Dooyoo under my name juleshobs 

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