To Walk This Land

The intention behind my walking trips to the village of Near Sawrey in England’s Lake District was to pay my respects to the memory of Beatrix Potter and to the land that formed her life. I admired this woman beyond her renown in the the larger world as a children’s book author and illustrator. Because of my own life experience, I admired the next part of her life as she dealt with personal loss, forming a new life in a place she loved, learning to farm and preserving local land from development.

Beatrix loved to walk. She walked on all the property she owned, but she walked most often on trails around her home, Hill Top Farm. She knew this territory intimately. So walking felt the right way for me to experience the place that encouraged her and provided new purpose and direction.

I planned to connect with this land through photography, but had no preconception of the potential for images. I walked the trails around New Sawrey over and over, at different times of day, in different weathers and with different energy levels. Each day’s variation led to its own form of response. Sometimes I looked ahead and around, seeking out images, sometimes I moved slowly or simply sat and let them appear. The landscape unfolded as I saw more and experienced more.

All walks, any walk is a personal entry into a place and time and space. It is my hope this small book can provide that for you, wherever you are.