A Day Out with Friends

Just over a week ago, we had a lovely adventure.

Our human guardians took us with them to Biddulph Grange Gardens and we met our friends Milly the Mammoth and Blueberry Bear there.  They were on their way to a camping holiday with their humans and had asked if there was somewhere we could all have an adventure together.

Biddulph Grange is great for small bear (and mammoth) adventures, because it has gardens representing lots of different countries, even though it is a typical English Country House. 

But before we went exploring, we had time for a nice natter with our friends and some lunch, including a proper National Trust Scone from Milly and Blueberry's humans.

Because the nasty virus is still about, the humans had to follow a one-way route around the gardens, which took us to 'China' first, along the Himalayan Gorge, through the cavern and out into the pagoda by the pool.

We went the same way, having lots of fun running and climbing, but being very careful not to fall in the stream.  After we had explored the caves, where Milly and Blueberry were very brave and not at all scared in the dark, we all sat together on the bamboo seat, enjoying the view across the pond and waiting for our humans to stop chatting and catch up with us.

Then we did some more exploring in 'China'.  Endon climbed up to see the stone frog and get a better view across the water.

The humans weren't allowed over the little bridge or through the Great Wall this time, so we bears (and Milly) decided we ought to keep to the human paths too, just in case we did some climbing, got stuck and needed to be rescued.

This meant we were soon at the Stumpery, which is the best place for small bears (and mammoths) to practice their climbing, because there are good paw-holds on the wood and nice springy moss to land on if you fall off.

We could have stayed there for hours but the humans had decided to do the longer walk around the grounds, so the picked us all up and carried us along the Dahlia Walk. 

Hanley Bear calls it the 'Delilah Walk' after the song they sing at Stoke City and says they should only plant red and white dahlias there, but in fact there weren't any dahlias this year, just a tall, yellow flower Polar says is a Ligularia, which the bees love.

Our human guardians carried us until we got to the woodland walk, then it was time to run about and explore again.  We found some more things to climb on but couldn't play on the see-saw because there were human cubs on it, who didn't get off even when we all gave them hard stares!

After we had finished our walk, Grizzly and Polar drove up to Mow Cop, with Milly and Blueberry's humans following, so they could see the view right across Cheshire from the top of the hill.

Then it was time for our friends to carry on their journey to their campsite.  We felt sorry for the humans because, while we 'stuffies' could all share hugs, they weren't allowed to, but hopefully things will get better and safer for humans soon and we will be able to visit Milly and Blueberry on Uppie in Birmingham before too long.

Garden Bears' World - The Harvest Begins!

Hello again, everyone!  It's Endon Bear here with another Garden Bears' World for you, looking at our latest visit to Polar and Grizzly's allotment - although that was almost a week ago!

 My first job was to help Polar feed the tomato, pepper and chilli plants in the greenhouse.  Polar uses tomato feed for all her vegetables, but uses a weaker solution for the outdoor crops. 

While she poured the water and feed from the watering can, I used the spray to mist the flowers to help the fruit set.  Polar let me have the first ripe tomato for being a helpful bear!

Then it was time to feed the squashes and cucumbers, so I went to check on them before Polar made the ground too wet for furry paws.  Some of their leaves are bigger than me now!  The squashes are a French variety called Potimarron and the one I am standing next to is Queensland Blue, an Australian squash.

The runner beans needed a feed and water too, so that was our next stop with the watering can.  They have lots of flowers on them now.  Most of them have red flowers and are our magic beans from our pal Chomper, but there is one with white flowers and a bi-coloured one too, which Polar thinks are from her old seeds.  

They have got very tall now but Polar is pinching out the tops, so I don't think we will be able to climb up and look for giants.

Grizzly had found a job for Hanley Bear to do - turning down the tops of the onions to encourage the foliage to die back and help the bulbs to ripen.  Hanley is quite strong for a small bear and managed to fold them all over, but he smelled of onion so strongly afterwards that he was afraid he might have to have a bath.

Sonning did some weeding around the sweetcorn plants and the courgettes.  He was pleased to see some small fruits starting to form and reminded Polar that they needed some feed too.

Then Hanley and I laid all the garlic, which Polar had lifted earlier, in nice, neat rows so it could catch the sunshine and start drying out.

'Poo!' cried Hanley.  'We both smell of garlic now!'

And look how much there is!  We are hoping Polar will make garlic bread for us to munch for our supper.

In the little patch behind the shed, we found a few tiny plants growing, which we hope are some of our wildflowers.  It is hard to tell at the moment.  Polar says we can have some foxgloves, comfrey and honesty to plant there and some poppy seeds to sprinkle, so even if nothing much grows this year, there will be plenty of flowers next.

While we had been doing our various jobs, Grizzly was picking broad beans.  There are lots of them growing on the allotment and at home in the garden.  We scurried into the middle of the plot to get the ones Grizzly couldn't easily reach from the path.

Soon we had lots of them and, when we got home, we helped Grizzly to shell the pods to get all the juicy little beans out.  Polar cooked some with our roast dinner and put the others in a risotto with peas and mint a couple of days later.  They were very scrummy.

I've just remembered that I never showed you how our bucket new potatoes turned out, so here are some pictures of me helping Polar to cook them, with the first broad beans from the garden, back at the beginning of June.

Mint is delicious with new potatoes and with broad beans too.

As you can see, broad beans have extremely cosy pods to grow in, as they are all soft and fuzzy inside.

And here are some of our carrots from the big plant pots too.  Polar was pleased enough with the results that she's sown some more and is planning to grow carrots in pots again next year, as they were so tasty.

It's almost tea time now and we're going to have broad beans and carrots with our dinner again tonight and, hopefully, we'll start lifting our 'second early' potatoes soon too.  Aren't we busy little bears?

Boating Bears Again!

We had a very special treat last Friday.  For the first time since Uppie went away to be repainted, Polar and Grizzly were having a day out on the boat - and we bears were going with them!

We were so excited we could hardly sleep on Thursday night, and woke up very early on Friday morning to put on our boating clothes and pack our lifejackets in our Bear Bag.  After some of Grizzly's excellent porridge for our breakfast, we set off for Middlewich.

Our journey was to move Uppie from Mr Steve the boat painter's old yard on the River Weaver at Northwich to his new base at Middlewich.  

Uppie is almost finished but needs a few last jobs done, inside and out, and a new frame and cover for the cratch fitted (the open area at the bow), so Polar and Grizzly have their dining room and we have our all-weather bear look-out room.

Polar and Grizzly left our car at Mr Steve's dry dock, then he drove us to Northwich and helped us get Uppie away from the wharf and out onto the river.  

We stayed out of the way until the journey was underway, but had a very nice surprise when we climbed out of our Bear Bag.  Mr Steve and Mr Dorian the joiner had set up the new armchairs in Uppie's saloon.  They are very comfortable for small bears and humans alike - Grizzly had a long nap in one during the afternoon!  Doesn't the new floor look nice too? 

 Grizzly steered Uppie down the River Weaver through Northwich town and on towards the Anderton Lift.  The river was flowing quite briskly, but not in a troublesome way, and we saw sandpipers, swans and a kingfisher on our way down the river.

When we reached the famous Boat Lift, they manoeuvred Uppie round to the moorings where we were to wait for our turn.  We came out to look at Uppie and the Boat Lift, and asked if we could stay on the roof for the journey up.

Polar said we could, if we were very good and sensible bears, but then it started to rain and we all had to go back indoors so we didn't get soggy fur.

Fortunately, we could see the lift in action from the saloon windows.

Polar says it always rains when they are on the Anderton Lift!

As all the boats were there and ready to go, the nice lift people loaded us all in and soon we were being hoisted up to the Trent and Mersey Canal.  We bears have been on the Anderton Lift before, so we don't get scared any more, but it is still a very strange thing to be in a boat going up in the air!

Once Uppie was out on the canal, Polar came in to sit with us and have her picnic lunch, which she shared with us, while Grizzly carried on steering.

The sun had come out again, so we all moved out into the open cratch area and Polar said we could sit on the bow by the gas-locker lid, as long as we didn't get too close to the sides or climb over the rope.  We had a brilliant view from there and saw more kingfishers.

'I expect Grizzly would like his lunch soon,' I said to Polar, so she lifted Hanley Bear up on to the roof so he could run back to check whether Grizzly was hungry.

'Grizzly is very hungry!' said Hanley, when he got back after a long run along to the stern then back to the bow, so Polar carried us inside and asked us to look after Grizzly's lunch and make sure no flies landed on it, while she went to change over at the tiller.

We were very good bears and only nibbled a couple of Pringles and some cheese and salad, as being in the fresh air had made us hungry again.  There was still plenty left for Grizzly!

Polar started steering from a place called Broken Cross, in the heart of the Cheshire salt country.  There is a big chemical plant here which the canal runs right through. 

Soon after, you reach Billinge Flash, which is where Polar and Grizzly like to moor if they are exploring this part of the canal, but today we had a job to do - to get Uppie to Middlewich in time for Mr Steve to get home for tea.

So we didn't stop at Billinge Flash or anywhere else, but we did manage to spot the big wooden bear in the garden of one of the pretty black and white Cheshire houses by the canal.

It was very quiet on the canal and, after his lunch, Grizzly was feeling very sleepy and so were we, so we all had naps while Polar carried on steering.

Later in the afternoon, Polar and Grizzly swapped over on the tiller again, and Polar came out to sit with us.  She took a nice photo of us with a boat coming towards us - then we realised the people on the boat were friends of ours, so we all waved to each other!

When we reached Croxton Flash, then the aqueduct over the River Dane, we realised we were almost at Middlewich.  We were sad that our journey was nearly over but pleased that we had managed the journey in good time, so Mr Steve wouldn't be held up. 

 Here are some pictures of the painting Mr Steve has been doing.  He and Polar planned the colour scheme between them and Polar suggested a Celtic-style font for the sign-writing, which you can see Mr Steve has painted really well.

He has even put the name along the edge of the cratch - you can see it when the light is right on the non-slip finish. 

And here's Grizzly with Uppie, waiting for Polar to open the gates of the Big Lock at Middlewich.  Next time you see Uppie, hopefully the new cratch frame and cover will be in position.

We went back inside the boat and sat on our comfortable chairs while Polar and Grizzly worked Uppie through the Big Lock and the three narrow locks above it.  Mr Steve came to meet us at the middle one and helped us tie up at the moorings above the top lock.

He has some more jobs to do to get the dry dock ready but, as soon as it is, Uppie will go in to have the hull blacked and the cratch work done, and then, all being well, we can go off on our adventures again!