Things you didn't know about... Cumbria

Beatrix Potter came of age here
The children's author Beatrix Potter did most of her writing at Hill Top, her Cumbrian farmhouse, which also became the setting for 13 of her books, including The Tale of Tom Kitten and The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck.

Potter believed strongly in conserving the countryside she loved so much. By the time of her death in 1943, she owned 14 farms, 4,000 acres of land, and a flock of Cumbria's hardy Herdwick sheep—she left it all to the National Trust.

Ransome wrote his Swallows and Amazons books here
The author Arthur Ransome and his second wife made Cumbria's Lake District their home for 10 years. He set many of his stories on Coniston Water and is buried at St Paul's in Rusland, halfway between Coniston and Windermere.

Cumbria fosters great thinkers
John Ruskin, author, art critic, philosopher and advocate of social reform, set up home by Coniston Water in Cumbria in 1871. His writing influenced the Victorian Gothic Revival in architecture, the Arts and Crafts movement's philosophy of valuing works by master craftsmen—and Leo Tolstoy, who called him "one of the most remarkable of men".

A mutineer was born here
Fletcher Christian, of Mutiny on the Bounty notoriety, was born in Cockermouth, Cumbria, in 1764.

The first journalist to become a member of the Institute of Wine Masters came from Cumbria
Jancis Robinson, wine writer and broadcaster, was born in Carlisle. The broadcaster and novelist Melvyn Bragg was also born in the same Cumbria town.

Funny man Stan Laurel was born in Cumbria
The legendary comic actor, who grew up in Ulverston, near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, won an Academy Award with Oliver Hardy for The Music Box in 1932.

Cumbria's more than a little peaky
Only five mountains in England stand over 900 m (2,950 ft)—and they're all in Cumbria. The highest is Scafell Pike at 978 m (3,210 ft).

Cumbrians love spicy food
The Cumberland sausage, with its distinctive long coil of sausage, is a Cumbrian speciality. The early Cumberland sausage was more highly seasoned than today's, made with spices introduced to the area through Cumbria's trade with the West Indies. These exotic imports feature in many local dishes such as Grasmere gingerbread, which is more like a crumbly biscuit, and Cumberland rum nicky, a rich, sticky tart made with dates, ginger and rum.