A visit from the Berkshire Bears

You might remember that, on our way home from  visiting Hampshire for Polar's dad's 90th birthday, we dropped in on some bear friends in Berkshire.  In descending size order, their names are Confused Bear, Cinnamon Bear and Little Brown Bear (LBB). 

When they told us that their human guardians were going to be visiting Staffordshire in September, we bears insisted that we should meet again, at Trentham Gardens.  We wanted to show the Berkshire Bears our favourite woodland walk around the lake, where there are lovely flowers to admire and to smell, and lots of knobbly tree stumps for climbing on.

The humans spent the first part of  our visit talking and drinking coffee and tea.  We bears started to get annoyed with them until we realised that the Berkshire Bears' humans were talking about hiring a narrowboat and wanted Polar's advice. 

'Next summer, you are going to be Boat Bears Too!' I said to Confused, who gave a little cheer.

Finally, we set off on our walk.  When our humans let us out of our bags to play, Confused and LBB made friends with a lovely fox who lives where two paths meet.

We led the humans along the top path, as the best climbing stumps are that way.  We hoped we would be allowed to climb the mushroom sculptures, but they have a rope around them to keep human cubs out and Polar said that meant small bears shouldn't climb them either.

We didn't mind too much because The Stumpery is close by, which is one of our favourite places in the woods.  It is where the people who manage the woods place the stumps of trees that have been cut down or have blown over.  They make homes for woodland creatures and are wonderful for small bears to climb on.

There are tree trunks too, some of which are hollow inside and make great caves for small bears, although you have to make sure they are not already home to a mouse or vole, as it would be rude to go in without being invited if so.

While we were climbing, some human cubs saw us and had their pictures taken with us, because they thought we looked so cute (which we did, of course).

The stag beetle sculptures are nearby and they are also great fun for bears.

While we were having fun, we hadn't noticed that the clouds had been gathering.  The weather turned drizzly and our humans gathered us back into our bags so we didn't get wet and cold.

Rather than get soggy themselves, the humans decided to catch the electric boat from the café at the southern end of the lake back towards the entrance.  We bears sat where we could wave to the ducks, grebes, geese and swans, while staying out of the rain.

We were sad when it was time for our friends to go home to Berkshire but we know they are coming up again for their boat trip next summer and we will all stay in touch until then.