Beatrix Potter loved the countryside and she spent much of her otherwise conventional Victorian childhood drawing and studying animals. Her passion for the natural world lay behind the creation of her famous series of little books. A particular source of inspiration was the English Lake District where she lived for the last thirty years of her life as a farmer and land conservationist, working with the National Trust.
Beatrix Potter bought her first farm, Hill Top, in the village of Near Sawrey, in 1905 and The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan, published in that year, features the houses, gardens and streets of the village. However the inhabitants are animals rather than people, and problems arise when Ribby the cat invites Duchess the dog to tea.