In her early years, Beatrix developed a love of landscape, flora and fauna, all which she closely observed and painted. As a young woman her study and paintings of fungi led her to be widely respected. But she is perhaps most well known for her childrens books, which are now well loved by children throughout the world. She published 23 children's books and from her independant earnings was able to buy Hill Top Farm in the village of Near Sawry in the Lake District, making it her home. Her income from writing allowed her to extend her portfolio of properties as time went on. Indeed, during her lifetime she bought over 4000 acres of farmland with the money she made from her 'little white books.' Many of her stories were inspired by and written in the Lake District. In her forties she married a local solicitor, William Heelis. She also became a sheep breeder and farmer while continuing to write and illustrate children's books. When Beatrix died in 1943, she bequethed almost all of her beloved property to The National Trust. Her dearest wish was to preserve the beauty of the Lake District as she had known it, and allow it to remain unspoiled forever.

Other favourites include 'The Tale of Mrs Tiggy Winkle' and 'The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.' 

The Japanese Office of VisitBritain has translated thousands of copies of the movie location map into Japanese so that visitors can plan holidays and visits to all the locations used in the film. These include areas such as Ambleside, Dent, Bowness, Hawkshead, Loweswater, Whitehaven, Windermere, Coniston and Keswick. In Japan, Potter's series of 23 books was on the school curriculum and a documenatry about her in the 1970s enabled people in Japan to learn about the author and the beautiful Lakeland area in which she lived and was inspired. A map of the Lake District can be downloded from the Japanese Language site set up by a Japan Forum to provide information to Japanese tourists.

2007 also saw an American author called Linda Lear win the Lake District's prestigeous literary prize for her biography titled: Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature, the result of an eight year labour of love. In the process of writing about Beatric Potter, Linda Lear also fell in love with the Lake District that her idol tried so hard to preserve.