Jessica Miller

characters like the scatterbrained Alesbury duck, Jemima Puddle-Duck, who is forever forgetting where she has laid her eggs.

And Tom Kitten, the mischievous cat who wreaks havoc on his mother's tea party.

During her visits to Hill Talk, Beatrix got to know the residents of the nearby village.

One resident in particular became a treasured companion, local solicitor William Heelis.

The two married and moved into Castle Cottage in the prosperous town of near Surrey.

Here, Beatrix wrote, drew, and painted.

She also developed a deep admiration for the region's traditional farming methods.

She and William bought a few acres of farmland, and Beatrix expanded her flock of sheep.

Although agriculture in England was becoming increasingly industrialized, Beatrix insisted on doing things the old-fashioned way.

As a result, her flock thrived.

Soon, she expanded her land holdings.

In her 50s, as her eyesight began to fade, she concentrated more and more energy on tending to her own farm and to safeguarding the welfare and interests of other local farming families.

She also did something that struck her farming neighbors as a little odd.

There were large tracts of her land that Beatrix didn't farm.

As she acquired more and more land, she decided that some of it should be left wild and untouched.

It was her way of trying to preserve the uniquely rugged beauty of her adopted home.

In 1930, Beatrix published what would be her last book, The Tale of Little Pig Robinson.

It tells the story of a gullible young pig who is sent to market by his grandmother.

At the market, he meets a sailor who invites him on an ocean voyage.

Pig Robinson immediately accepts the sailor's offer, excited at all the adventures he will have at sea.