Lake District: Wild waters lead the tales of Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit

Paddling our canoes through the cool morning mist, we spot Wild Cat Island in the distance, a rocky wooded nubbin emerging from the hazy lake and immediately pick up pace to beat the Amazons. 

On our lengthy drive north from Sussex, I educate my children; 11-year old twins, Nancy and Lola, and Angus, 15, on the joys of Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome’s brilliant 1930s novel set in the Lake District. 

Last summer a remake of the original film based on the classic book was released, starring Rafe Spall and Harry Enfield, which was filmed on Wild Cat Island. 

Like many, I grew up engrossed in the adventures of Swallows’ John, Susan, Titty and Roger Walker, and Amazons’ Nancy and Peggy Blackett and their war against grumpy Captain Flint. 

Although the rec’ on the 1970s housing estate where I grew up lacked the authenticity of the rugged Wild Cat Island, the books inspired many a muddy escapade with my fellow pirates. 

After power-paddling across the water, we moor up in the Secret Harbour (smaller than my 10-year old imagination remembers) and set about exploring the island. 

Our band of pirates, my gang (the Swallows) and a quiet family of four (Amazons) are led by our captain, Adam from Joint Adventures, an outdoor pursuits company which hosts Swallows And Amazons-themed kayaking and canoeing tours on Coniston Water. 

Attracting loyal fans of the novel, Wild Cat Island, more formally known as Peel Island and owned by the National Trust, is at the centre of these excursions. 

“Although you can’t camp here or even build a fire, it’s a great place to explore and have proper muddy adventures” says Adam with a child-like gleam in his eye. 

“We teach the children bushcraft, such as knife skills and how to build a camp and also take them treasure hunting for the geocaches buried on the island.” 

While my adventurous gang would happily spend the night sleeping under tarpaulin in a makeshift camp, their father and I have limits, so we’ve rented a charming little cottage near the village of Lakeside. 

Surrounded by peaked hills dusted with late winter snow and deep baize-green valleys curling around huge shimmering bodies of water, it’s easy to see how the Lake District has inspired writers, artists and poets for centuries. 

And Ransome was not the only author drawn by the beauty of the Lake District. 

This year marks the 151st anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s birth. 

Author, illustrator and avid conservationist, Potter’s legacy is threaded deep throughout the area. 

We take a winding country road out to Near Sawrey and Hill Top, Potter’s wisteria-clad 17th century farmhouse, where you can traipse through the walled cabbage garden which inspired the tales of Peter Rabbit and wander around her beloved home. 

As we enter, the children are handed one of her books, pages bookmarked to show a room or trinket which feature in her illustrations. 

Lola was enthralled to see the actual mousehole from the Tale Of Tom Kitten. 

For younger Potter fans, a must-visit is the World of Beatrix Potter in Bowness-on-Windermere for a stroll through her books. 

Animated life-size characters in woodland scenes bring to life our favourite characters including Jeremy Fisher, Mrs Tiggywinkle and Samuel Whiskers. 

From Hill Top, it’s a short, drive to the Beatrix Potter Gallery housed in her husband William Heelis’s former solicitors office in the village of Hawkshead. 

Narrow staircases lead to a maze of tiny rooms crammed with her illustrations and memorabilia, where Angus found a macabre delight in seeing the skin of the real Benjamin Bunny. 

After a day cooped up in galleries the children are fidgety, so we head to Tarn Hows for a ramble around the lake. 

The children scatter in three different directions, climbing trees and grassy mounts and splash about in hidden waterfalls. 

This area was once owned by Potter, who was able to buy great swathes of the Lake District which she left to the National Trust in her will, thus protecting it from development. 

As my children are never happier than when up a tree, we spend our last afternoon at Brockhole, the Lake District Visitor Centre in Ecclerigg on the eastern banks of Windermere. 

Set around a 19th-century mansion once owned by William Gaddum, a silk merchant married to Potter’s cousin, Edith, it’s now a visitor centre with extensive gardens and a treetop adventure park. 

Decked out with safety harnesses, we negotiate a series of dizzyingly high tree-top obstacles including swinging buoys and wobbly rope bridges finishing with an 820ft long zip-wire. 

While I cling tearfully to a trunk, trembling with nerves, the little ones fly through the trees with ease, chirruping like swallows, my happy, fearless adventurers – Ransome would be proud. 

THE KNOWLEDGE

Joint Adventures (01539 449003/ jointadventures.co.uk) offers Swallows And Amazons-themed canoe tours from £33. 

Hill Top and the Beatrix Potter Gallery (01539 436269/nationaltrust.org.uk). 

Family tickets £26, and the World of Beatrix Potter (015394 88444/hop-skipjump.com). Family tickets £21. 

Tree top treks (01539 447186/treetoptrek. co.uk). Tickets £18 per adult; £15 per child. 

Coppermines Cottages (015394 41765/coppermines.co.uk) offer seven nights at Hollin Bank Barn, Nr. Coniston from £470 (sleeps 6) Lake District tourism: lakedistrict. gov.uk