When country mouse Timmy Willie describes his rural home in Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse, he enthuses over the “roses and pinks and pansies - no noise except the birds and the bees, and the lambs in the meadow.”

Now those meadows, which inspired Potter to create her magical world of animal adventures, have been restored by The National Trust, and the creatures that one resided there have returned.

The fields which surrounded Hill Top Farm, near Sawrey, in the Lake District, were abundant with wildlife when Potter moved to the area in 1905.

But they were ploughed up during the first and second world wars under schemes such as Dig for Victory, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture to encourage self-sufficiency.

Now, following a 25-year regeneration project, they are thriving again, and are now some of the most species-rich in the Trust’s care.