Britain’s Novel Landscapes with Mariella Frostrup, Episode 3 Tonight, 17th February at 9pm on More4

Episode Three – Beatrix Potter’s Lake District

Mariella Frostrup heads to the Lake District to discover how its unique landscape inspired Beatrix Potter to create her world-famous animal stories.

She also reveals why, without Potter, we wouldn’t have the Lake District National Park as it is today.

Mariella investigates how Beatrix Potter originally wanted to be a serious botanical scientist and it was only when she failed that she turned to writing. She visits the gardens, lakes and houses that Potter particularly loved and explores how each helped her create a new animal character.

But Mariella also discovers how Potter became increasingly enamoured by traditional Lake District life and became determined to save the area from development. She uncovers the extraordinary lengths Potter went to in order to preserve the area for future generations, buying up huge areas of land so that she could leave it all to the National Trust in the biggest donation they had ever received at the time.

Click here and sign in to More 4 to watch Britain’s Landscapes with Mariella Frostrup.