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Dr Penny Bradshaw leads a curator's tour of the exhibition
Dr Penny Bradshaw, Associate Professor of Literature at the University of Cumbria, has provided several bespoke tours of her exhibition, ‘An A-Z of Beatrix Potter’, for visitors to The Armitt Library and Museum in Ambleside.
This book tie-in exhibition is running throughout 2026 has been co-curated by Penny, who is the author of An A-Z of Beatrix Potter, which was published by Bloomsbury Academic in January 2026. This year marks the 160th anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s birth and the exhibition brings together over 100 objects, from original drawings and manuscripts, to Potter’s clogs and the Jeremy Fisher costume worn in the 1971 ballet production of The Tales of Beatrix Potter.
Like the book, the exhibition explores Potter’s life, work and legacies via 26 words and phrases drawn from across her writing life, moving from A is for Animal to Z is for Zoological, and taking in many unexpected interests and aspects of Potter’s life in on the way, such as her love of circuses, dancing, her interest in clothes, her expertise in the mysterious world of fungi, and the way in which the two world wars affected her life and informed her writing.
During the tour, Penny provides unique insights into some of the ideas and approaches which underpin the exhibition and discusses a number of the alphabetical areas and exhibits in more detail. ‘An A-Z of Beatrix Potter’ runs until December 2026.
For further details see: An A-Z of Beatrix Potter | ARMITT MUSEUM AND LIBRARY
Photography credit: Megan Richards
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