Beatrix Potter doll's house to go back on display at Hill Top
A doll's house which inspired the stories of children's author Beatrix Potter is going back on display after 300 hours of conservation work.Seventy-three miniature items were repaired and cleaned by teams of conservators at the National Trust, ahead of the house becoming the centrepiece of a new exhibition at Hill Top, the author's farm near Hawkshead, Cumbria.The items in the house were given to Potter by her publisher Norman Warne for inspiration and feature in her book The Tale Of Two Bad Mice.Restoration work included stabilising part of the roof edge, filling cracks, mending torn wallpaper and reattaching broken pieces.
Mr Warne later proposed to the author, who accepted, but he died in 1905 before they could marry.Potter bought the doll's house decades later in the 1930s.
Hill Top property curator, Katy Canales, said the contents of the doll's house were "really important" because they "feature so strongly in one of Beatrix's best-loved tales but also because of the significance of her life and relationship with Norman Warne".In The Tale of Two Bad Mice, characters Hunca Munca and Tom Thumb attempt to steal some of the miniature food - only to discover it is glued to the plate.Ms Canales said the conservators have done a "wonderful job to bring it back up to such a high standard".Once the repairs were completed, a detailed clean took place, with micro-vacuum cleaners used for silk cushion covers.Experts at the National Trust's Textile Conservation Studio in Norfolk worked on the house's carpet, upholstered furniture, and dolls' clothes, while conservators at the Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio in Kent restored pieces of wooden furniture, ceramic and glass items and paper, including wallpaper, watercolours and drawings.
The house will be kept in an interactive case, allowing visitors to spotlight different objects.It will be put on display alongside a letter written by the author to a young American boy, containing a description and illustration of pet mouse Hunca Munca.Ms Canales said it was "one of hundreds of letters" Potter wrote to children "across the world to support their love of reading and share her love of animals and storytelling".Animations of the much-loved illustrations will be projected on the walls of the farm's New Room for the Two Bad Mice: Pets To Page exhibition, which runs from Saturday until November 2026.The conservation work will feature in an upcoming series of Hidden Treasures of the National Trust, due to be broadcast on the BBC in the spring.
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