AS plans near completion for celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s birth on July 28th, ardent fans should welcome the chance to own the leasehold of one of her favourite stretches of Lake District water for around as much as it might cost to buy a supercar.

Just £100,000 plus £15,000 annual rental is the guide price for the remaining 9 years of leasehold on Esthwaite Water at Hawkshead in Cumbria, for sale through water leisure experts Fenn Wright.  

Lying in around 285 acres between Lake Windermere and Coniston Water, Esthwaite  Water was not only one of Beatrix’s favourite places and inspiration for characters such as Jeremy Fisher, but was also beloved of poet William Wordsworth who wrote about it by name at the end of the 18th century. 

Today, the lake is a popular tourist attraction based around fishing (trout and pike are the mainstay), bird watching (three pairs of Ospreys are breeding nearby), a café, art exhibitions, and car parking, including for The Beatrix Potter Experience tour and visits to her nearby 17th century farmhouse retreat, Hill Top. Around 100,000 visitors flock to the house annually, and more are expected in this sesquicentennial year. Accounts to the end of March this year showed business turnover at the lake in excess of £130,000, and an operating profit of around £25,000.

“There is currently one extremely experienced full time employee overseeing the various income strands at Esthwaite Water,” says Martin Freeman, Partner at Fenn Wright, “and there is room to expand the business further.  Planning permission has been granted to double the size of the café, which is currently quite a modest space. 

“Interest has grown considerably in the Beatrix Potter connection in recent years, and the Osprey are proving such a popular draw that an ‘Osprey Safari’ has been established to give visitors a chance to see from a boat the birds of prey as they dive for fish to feed their young.

“This all operates alongside the traditional fishery, which three years ago held the record for the largest pike caught in England – a whopping 46lbs weight. Brown trout over 13lbs have also been caught here, and there are numerous other coarse varieties in the lake, including bream, perch, eel, roach and rudd.”