Paws Around the Potteries - Winter Walks around our Village

Ay up, everyone!  It's Hanley Bear here, with a guest post for my pal Sonning's blog.  It's about my favourite place, North Staffordshire, which is the best place in the world for Small Bears, especially when it snows

When we had some snow early in the winter, Polar and Grizzly took some of us bears for walks around our village.  Polar and Grizzly both put on their big walking boots and some "trax", which are special grippers that allow them to walk in icy conditions without slipping.

I got into Grizzly's pack, where I sometime sit when we go to football.  It's very warm and I get a great view, although it can make my head feel funny watching everything going backwards.

On one of our walks, we went down to the allotment to check the plants in the greenhouse.  It would have been great to make a snow bear there, but Polar and Grizzly said we had to go on to the farm shop to get some pasties for lunch.

We like going to the farm shop and helping to choose cheese, veg, bread and cakes for our meals.  We like the views across the fields from the farm too, as we can see all the way to Wales and the hills around Beeston Castle in Cheshire if it's clear.

The village looks very pretty in the snow.  We like the row of cottages that overlook the field you pass on the way into it.  Sometimes there are sheep in the field but it usually grows hay to feed to the farm animals in the winter.

On Bignall Hill to the south of the village is a monument to a man called John Wedgwood.  He did not make pottery - he was a mine-owner.  

 

The monument used to be much higher but some of it fell down in a big storm many years before Polar and Grizzly moved here.  One day, Polar and Grizzly decided to walk up to it, and Endon Bear went with them. Grizzly helped him to climb up onto a Triangulation Point so he could get his bearings.

The views from the top are really great, as you can see all the way out to the Peak District if you look east-north-east from the monument.

Further round (roughly north-east), you can see Mow Cop and our village, while the Jodrell Bank radio-telescope is to the north, behind a row of little terraced houses.

There was some cloud or mist to the west, so they didn't have good views towards Wales, although they could make out the little town of Audley.  It's strange to think that all this pretty countryside used to be coal mining country.

On the way home from their walk, Endon told Grizzly and Polar that he could smell gas.  They stopped near the main road and sniffed, and found that they could smell it too, near some little inspection chambers and signs with "gas" on them.  So Polar used her phone to call the emergency number for Cadent, and the next time they passed the spot, there were cones and a big "no smoking" sign beside it.

 

I am going to finish off with a couple of pictures Polar took from our village looking towards Manchester, where you can see the airport and the towers in the centre of the city, and another view of Jodrell Bank.

We are lucky bears to have so many interesting things to see from our own village, but that's because we live in the best place ever - North Staffordshire!