Paws around the Potteries - Christmas at Ford Green Hall

 

Ay up, everyone!  It's time for another Paws Around the Potteries post from me, Hanley Bear.

Lots of the great places to visit in my home town of Stoke-on-Trent do special events at Christmas and this is about our visit to one of the local museums, the fantastic Ford Green Hall.

Ford Green Hall is a very old farmhouse, built in 1624 by a farmer called Mr Hugh Ford and owned by his family for the next 200 years.  It used to be one of the Stoke-on-Trent Council museums but is now an independent trust, with visiting for everyone for part of the week, visits for schools so human cubs can learn about history, and also weddings and special events.

Us bears visited when they were having some special Christmas open days.  None of us had been inside before, but first Endon Bear wanted to take a look at the knot garden, where they grow lots of flowers and herbs used as dyes, medicines and cleaning products in the 17th century.

Once inside, Polar said we could get out of the Bear Bag, as long as we were careful not to get stepped on or to trip up any of the other visitors, so we all went off to explore.  There was a Christmas feast set up in the first room I found, with Mr Chris from the museum dressed as Mr Ford.  I thought his hat was brilliant!

The cubs could smell the feast too, and climbed up the table cloth to take a closer look at all the herbs, spices and marzepan treats.  They might even have had a little nibble at some while Mr Chris was talking to me!

They scurried away before he could see what they were doing and found there was another table full of historic Christmas treats in the next room.

Waverley jumped up to the top of a big piece of cheese, while Dudley found more marzepan treats to eat, this time shaped to look like little fruits.

"It must have been great fun, being a small bear in the olden days," he said.  But Polar said she didn't know if there were small bears in the olden days and that big, wild bears weren't treated very nicely at all.

"Stop taking sneaky nibbles of the food, little bears, and take a look at the work the clever sewing group do here," she told them.  "They have made all these embroidered things, based on the work that little girls and ladies did in the 17th century."

We wondered if Polar might make Grizzly an embroidered hat to wear indoors, as he does not have very much fur on his head, and she could make herself a set of pockets too!

Upstairs, we found a bed with a set of hangings made by the embroidery team.  We would have loved to do some bed bouncing, but there were too many other people about and we thought we would get caught! 

Also visiting was a new pal we made called Rainbow Mouse.  Sonning is now his friend on Facebook and can follow his adventures - and he has lots, including going to pantomimes and meeting the stars.  I wonder if we will go to a panto this year?

 

Sonning found some clothes for 17th Century human cubs that the stitchers had made too.  I don't think Grizzly's grandcubs, great-nephews and nieces would like to wear such bulky things, although Polar explained that houses were much colder in the past when people didn't have central heating or modern windows.

And I found a bed in a back room where I could try to bounce - but the mattress was full of straw, so it wasn't very easy!

When I looked up, there was a terrifying figure looking at me!  I thought it was a ghost and got very scared, until I saw it was a dummy wearing the clothes that Plague Doctors used to wear.  It was still very creepy.  I enjoyed reading about what people believed certain herbs and spices were good for, although Polar says she is pretty sure Amaranthus doesn't make you bullet-proof!

We all enjoyed a terrific visit and hope we can go again next year.  There are lots of events and craft fairs - and a Teddy Bears' Picnic - so we are sure to be back soon.