CHILDREN'S favourite Peter Rabbit has found a new place to play at the National Trust’s Wray Castle on the shores of Windermere.

Rooms in the former servant’s quarters have been given a magical makeover to become the Peter Rabbit Adventure, where the castle’s visitors young and old can hop into Peter’s world.

Four rooms have been transformed to fire young imaginations – whether it’s exploring Peter’s family burrow; looking for radishes in Mr McGregor’s garden; dreaming up new adventures in the Treehouse; or settling back to watch episodes from the series in Brown Owl’s nest. 

Specially created for Wray Castle with the help of Silvergate Media, the company behind the animated series along with Penguin UK, the Peter Rabbit Adventure features murals, miniature vegetables and lots of opportunities for play and discovery for pre-school children.

The CBeebies series is a modern reimagining of the original tales of best-selling children’s author Beatrix Potter, who used the profits from the sales of her books to protect the Lake District way of life – its landscapes, farms and Herdwick sheep. 

On her death, her substantial landholdings were gifted to the National Trust.  As so many of Beatrix’ tales were set in the Lake District, the animated show uses many real-life landscapes recognisable today.

Beatrix first visited Wray Castle on a family holiday when she was 16 years old in 1882. She met Hardwicke Rawnsley, who was the vicar of the parish of Wray. Rawnsley is said to have first inspired her passion for the Lake District - he went on to found the National Trust and she to become a world-famous author and Lake District farmer.

John Moffat, General Manager for the National Trust, South Lakes, based at Coniston, says:  “Peter Rabbit first appeared over a hundred years ago and children of all ages are still enchanted by the tales of Peter and his friends. Wray Castle is the perfect spot to let young imaginations create their own adventures in our Peter Rabbit Adventure; we hope that they will be as inspired by their time at Wray as Beatrix herself was.”

Lesli Zador, VP Brand & Marketing at Silvergate Media said: “We are thrilled that our reimagining of Potter’s classic tales has inspired the team at Wray Castle to create this fantastic new Peter Rabbit play space. We hope that it will give many families the opportunity to play, explore, create their own adventures and fall in love with Peter and his friends.”

Wray Castle is open daily until 2 November and then Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays until Christmas. The Castle closes on 21 December and reopens 21 March 2015.