Beatrix Potter in Lyme Regis

Beatrix Potter (1866 - 1943) was an author and illustrator who is best known for her small-format children's books such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit. She came to Lyme Regis on holiday in 1904, two years after The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published. While staying here she worked on another book, The Tale of Little Pig Robinson, which did not see print until 1930 -- her last published work.

The Tale of Little Pig Robinson is set in the fictional town of ‘Stymouth’, which Beatrix Potter based in part on Lyme Regis, as well as on the nearby towns of Sidmouth and Teignmouth in Devon. Views of all three towns are used as backgrounds in the book.

On her visit to Lyme, Beatrix Potter stayed at Burley, Silver Street, and enjoyed perfect weather and the steep views. She produced a number of sketches of the town, including several drawings of Broad Street: she wrote in a letter that it was a lovely street and she would have liked to have done better justice to it. One of her sketches of Broad Street on display in the Museum is reproduced below.

To find out more about the many writers and artists associated with Lyme Regis, see the Writers and Artists page of the main website... or better still, visit the museum!