A GROUP of letters written by Lakeland children’s author and illustrator Beatrix Potter are set to set for up to £15,000 at auction on Saturday.

The five handwritten letters, four of them addressed to agriculturalist Professor James Alec Hanley and his wife, are being sold by Dawson’s Auctioneers, of Maidenhead, Berkshire.

The letters (LOT 256) have a pre-sale estimate of £10,000 to £15,000.

Beatrix Potter, later Heelis, lived from 1866 to December 1943 and the letters cover the period from July 16 in 1942 to March 26 in 1943.

Topics covered in the letters sent to the Hanleys at Applethwaite, Keswick, range from comments on bus services to questions potato crops.

It seems the autumn of 1942 was poor for crops at a time when food was short due to attacks by German U-boats on British shipping bringing supplies from overseas.

All the letters are written from Castle Cottage Sawrey, the author’s home following her move to the Lake District in 1913.

After her death in 1943, Castle Cottage, with 14 other farms and 4,000 acres of land was left to the National Trust.

A spokesman for the auctioneers said: “These letters are significant as they were penned in the final months of her life, the last of which just nine months before her death.”

Professor James Alec Hanley was a renowned agriculturalist who advised Beatrix Potter on farming matters, the management of her land, and the land used by her tenant farmers.