A Holiday in Somerset - Part 2: Bears at Aunty Ann and Uncle Derek's house

In my last post, I told you about when Waverley, Langers and I went on an adventure to see SS Freshspring.  While we were away, Hanley, Huddlesford and Endon had a small adventure of their own, exploring Aunty Ann and Uncle Derek's house and garden.

Aunty Ann and Uncle Derek live in a nice village near a town called Wiveliscombe - or "Wivvey", as the locals call it.  We think that would be a good name for a Somerset bear, but no extra bears joined our hug on this trip!

Hanley, Huddlesford and Endon did the usual things small bears do when they are left in a house, like bouncing on the beds and climbing the tables and chairs.  Then they had a short nap, before Hanley and Huddlesford set off to find Uncle Derek's model railway.

Mr Derek and Grizzly had been trying to stop trains derailing on one section of track, but hadn't been able to fix it, so the engineering bears mended that for them.  When they came back into the living room, they saw Endon looking out at the garden.

"It's such a nice day, it would be lovely to be outdoors," he said.

"We can go outdoors," said Huddlesford.  "Look!  There's a special bear hatch in the back door!"  Huddlesford dived through, then helped the smaller bears out.

In the garden, they found a comfortable bench in a shady spot and settled down for another small nap, before Endon led them on a botanical expedition around the garden.

 

They found it was full of herbs and flowers, and some shrubs big enough for them to climb.  Hanley Bear liked jumping about in the curry plant, as he likes spicy food, and soon he smelt of curry too.

Endon saw that the door to Aunty Ann's greenhouse was open, so he went in to see what was growing.  He found a melon and lots of sweet peppers, as well as tomatoes.

"We'll have to get Polar to try harder with peppers and chillies next year," said Hanley.  "Hers were rubbish this year!"

They carried on exploring the garden, finding beds full of annual flowers, vegetables and salads, and another bench for a sit down near the lawn.  There was a little pond too.  Endon started planning jobs for when they got home and everybear agreed we would help Polar to grow better peppers in 2022, in the allotment greenhouse, and maybe a melon too.

 

They were still in the garden when we got home from our adventure to Bideford.  Climbing up onto the window sill, they saw that the kettle was on, and Aunty Ann was putting cakes on a plate.  Their little tummies started to rumble, as they had been having so much fun, they had forgotten to have any lunch!

"Quick everybear - back through the bear-hatch!" shouted Hanley, scurrying round to the back of the house with the others and scrambling in through the little door.  They were just in time for some scrummy flapjack, and Polar showed them the pictures she had taken of Freshspring and the little railway.

The following day, it was my turn to stay at home, with Waverley and Langers, but had Endon loved exploring Aunty Ann's garden so much, he said he wanted to stay home too.

He showed us the herb garden and the big shrubs, including an acanthus, which has the common name "Bear's Breeches", though we couldn't really see why that would be.

Endon was particularly keen to show us the greenhouse and all the lovely peppers growing in it.

 

"Polar needs to grow hers in the top greenhouse, where it is sunniest," he explained.  "Or in the allotment greenhouse.  The polycarbonate greenhouse, where she tried to grow them this year, is too shady and too damp.  She also put them out there too early, when it was too cold for them."

Later, we fetched some grapes and biscuits and had a picnic on the lawn, before playing some racing and chasing bear games.  Then Endon said he was going to help Aunty Ann by harvesting some of the lavender, which had got rather long and was overhanging the path.  

He snapped off the flower stalks with his paws and gathered them into bundles, then found some of Aunty Ann's saved string and we used it to tie them into bunches.

"When Polar gets home, she can help Aunty Ann to tidy up the plant with secateurs, then help us hang the bunches up in the greenhouse to dry," he said.

He kept a little bunch of lavender for us to show Hanley and Huddlesford when they got home from their adventure, and to take back to Staffordshire when we went home. 

Lavender has a lovely smell which is supposed to help humans sleep better - it certainly works for small bears, as we were soon all napping in the kitchen, especially Hanley and Huddlesford who had both had a very busy day.

And Huddlesford will tell you all about that quite soon.