Booking your visit
We look forward to welcoming you to Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top in the Lake District. This guide has everything you need to help you plan your visit, from booking your tickets online to what you can expect when you arrive. Advance booking is essential.
Arriving by car
If you're visiting Hill Top by car, you'll need to book your admission ticket in advance, including National Trust members.
As Hill Top is a traditional Lake District cottage with a small car park, parking is limited and reserved for visitors with a pre-booked ticket. Unfortunately, we can't accommodate campervans or motorhomes.
When booking, you'll be asked to select a timed arrival slot. To help us care for this special place and manage parking fairly, please arrive at your allocated time. We may not be able to offer parking if you arrive early.
Tickets
You can book tickets online up to two weeks in advance and until a few minutes before your chosen arrival slot, subject to availability. Simply select your arrival time and the number of tickets required, then follow the booking instructions.
Admission and parking are free for National Trust members, but you'll need to book in advance and bring your membership card with you. Non-members will need to purchase an admission ticket.
Please book one ticket per person. Children aged five and under do not require a ticket. Tickets are non-transferable and cannot be resold.
Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome in the garden but are not permitted inside the house.
Once you've completed your booking, we'll send a confirmation email. Please check that you've entered the correct email address to ensure you receive it.
For booking enquiries, please call 0344 249 1895.
Quieter visits
Hill Top is quaint, quirky, beautiful, original and will leave you feeling like you’ve had a true glimpse into the life of Beatrix Potter and her love of the place. As such, no modifications or alterations have been made to the building. This does mean at more popular times it may feel busy in the house. Consider visiting in the afternoons after 2.30, which tend to be quieter.
Take a tour of the working farm
Hill Top farm is attached to Hill Top and both were bequeathed to the National Trust in Beatrix Potter's will in 1944. Today, the farm consists of over 250 acres and remains fully operational all year round, just how Beatrix envisioned it.
The Dixons, who have farmed at Hill Top for 35 years, run farm tours on selected dates, providing a rare opportunity to go ‘beyond the gate’ and capture a glimpse of the working Lakeland farm as it is today.
Enjoy the picturesque landscape setting of Near Sawrey and discover more about the farm. Explore the farmyard location and discuss life on the holding, renowned as the first farm bought by Beatrix Potter.
You'll meet some of Hill Top's Herdwick sheep, which are descendants of Beatrix Potter's original flock and a breed she was passionate about preserving.
Walk and Talk Duration: approx. 90 minutes.
Things to see and do at Hill Top
Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top in 1905, shaping it into the rural retreat we see today. Step inside to explore the rooms and objects that reveal her interests, and spot real‑life scenes that appear in her illustrations.
Things to do in Hill Top garden
Discover Beatrix Potter's garden, restored to how it was in her time, with the carefully tended vegetable plot and views of the pretty cottage garden from the famous path.
Shopping at Hill Top
The Hill Top shop has a variety of gifts inspired by Beatrix Potter and her life in the Lake District.
