Jessica Miller

Many of us grew up with the classic works of Beatrix Potter, the artist and naturalist who introduced the world to beloved characters like Squirrel Nutkin, Jemima Puddle Duck, the Tailor of Gloucester, and of course, the mischievous, carrot-thieving bunny, Peter Rabbit.

But who really was the woman behind these children's books?

How did she hone the craft of both writing and botanical illustration?

And how did her love for the natural world develop into a lifelong passion for conservation?

We'll delve into these questions and more tonight, and we'll begin at Beatrix Potter's family home in England.

So just relax and let your mind drift as we explore the sleepy history of Beatrix Potter.

This mansion is located in Kensington, London,

The lawn is well manicured.

The tall, old oak trees provide shade from the warm summer sun, and the leaves of the elm trees rustle softly in the breeze.

The flower beds are a pleasing tangle of daisies, primroses, buttercups, and pansies.

A genteel rose garden boasts flowering shrubs with roses in a riot of pinks, creams, reds, and buttery yellows.

If you sniff the air, you can smell the roses' sweet scent.

The year is 1866.

Kensington is a far cry from the bustling inner-city suburb familiar to Londoners today.

Back then, the district sat on the outskirts of the city, and though many of its streets boasted gracious homes, in some ways it still resembled a rural village.

Beyond a clutch of comfortable middle-class homes lay forests and open fields.

Some of the fields were still used as common farmland, where local families brought their sheep and cattle to graze.

In fact, if you listen, you can hear the trilling of the birds in the forest and the distant bleat of sheep.

But there are no sheep or cattle in this very respectable garden.

Beatrix Potter was born on July 28, 1866.