A CELEBRATION of Beatrix Potter's Lake District legacy is to take place in Kendal next week.

Delegates are travelling from as far afield as Australia, the USA, Japan and Europe for the Beatrix Potter Society's biennial conference.

The keynote speaker will be Douglas Chalmers, CEO of Friends of the Lake District. He is to talk about how the award of UNESCO World Heritage Site status links to the storyteller's legacy - the land and farms she bequeathed, her dedication to Herdwick sheep breeding, and her passion for preserving traditional Lake District ways of life.

Society members are to gather at the Castle Green Hotel from Tuesday to Saturday (September 11 to 15), where they will also celebrate the 100-year anniversary of The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse.

Artwork by local school children will be on show, and there will also be a market place where Cumbrian women will display and sell their work.