A Curious Country House

In February, four of us bears went on an adventure with Polar and Grizzly.  The main adventure was a visit to the Great Central Railway but, on the way there, we stopped at a National Trust property called Calke Abbey.

Our human guardians drove all the way around the estate before they found the way in, so it was lunchtime by the time we had driven along the long, tree-lined drive towards the big house and parked. We went straight to the cafe for savoury scones before starting to explore the grounds.

The first building you reach after the cafe is the stables, which were huge, as the former owners of the stately home loved horse-racing and used to keep lots of horses in quite luxurious conditions.

  

Hanley and Endon jumped out of the Bear Bag to explore.  They read about a famous horse called Eclipse, who is an ancestor of more than three-quarters of all the racehorses in the UK.  Hanley found a riding hat he could sit in and use as a swing, while Endon liked a little wooden trugg which he thought would be useful in the garden.

After visiting the stables, we made our way into a wing of the big house that was open.  There was a great display about "Cabinets of Curiosities", where gentlefolk in the 18th Century used to show off oddities they had collected.

Hanley found an amazing ceramic table made by Spode in Stoke-on-Trent, so he was delighted.  Then we all went to take a closer look at the cabinets.

Huddlesford found one full of shells and rocks, while I found one that was set up so human cubs could make their own, having fun choosing which little figures and trinkets to put in it. 

"This is the best one!" cried Hanley.  He had found a collection of fossils and little archaeological exhibits which had been collected in the Peak District.  We all went for a look.

In the next room was a lady from the local embroiderer's guild, making an embroidery to celebrate the NHS.  There were lots of other embroidered pictures on display, so Polar and Grizzly lifted us up so we could see them.

There was even one of a Cabinet of Curiosities!  Our favourites had bees and flowers on them, but there were landscapes and portraits too, and they were all very cleverly made.

After that, it was time to explore the grounds.  We were allowed out of our bag to have a run on the lawns and to do some climbing on fallen trees, which we bears love to do.

Walking through the gardens, we found a wonderful display of snowdrops, with dozens of different varieties (or "cultivars" as Endon Bear says we should call them).

Endon went for a closer look and asked Polar to photograph a couple of his favourites, so we could show our blog readers how pretty they are.  We know we have two different cultivars in our garden, which we just know as "the tall snowdrop" and "the shorter snowdrop", but we didn't know there were so many different ones.

    

There was a fernery in a big glasshouse as well, which Endon Bear really loved, as there was lots of lovely, soft moss inside as well as pretty ferns.

Polar carried us around more of the gardens, as there was a very big area to explore, while Grizzly had a nice chat to a artist lady who was listening to a lovely song thrush (she draws birds professionally and you can follow her on Twitter as @crow_artist).

Endon enjoyed exploring the herb garden, although herbs have such strong smells to us bears that it can be quite overwhelming having so many of them around us.  We liked the little mini-hurdles around the edges of the beds and thought it would be fun to make some at home, next time Polar trims the hazel hedges.

Hanley Bear like these tall terracotta rhurbarb forcers, which he insisted were probably made in Stoke-on-Trent because he saw some being thrown on the Great Pottery Throwdown programme, and they inspired Polar to grow some forced rhubarb, although we used an old waterbutt to keep the rhubarb dark.

We thought the scarcrows were great and looked as if they would come alive and have dances and parties once all the humans left the gardens.

 

After a look in the garden shed, which Endon thought was wonderful (although he did want to go in and tidy it up a little bit), it was time to go back to the car to continue our journey to Loughborough.  Grizzly carried our Bear Bag so Polar could take more photographs and soon we were back at the car.  We would love to visit again and see the gardens when all the beds are full of fruit and vegetables, so maybe we will be back again later this year - we do hope so!