A Holiday in Somerset - Part 1: A Boatful of Bears

At the beginning of September, we bears were taken on holiday by Polar and Grizzly.  They were going to stay with our friends Aunty Ann and Uncle Derek, who adopted Waverley and arranged for him to join our hug last Christmas, so he was very keen to meet them.  Hanley, Endon and I had met them before, when they lived by the beach in Cornwall, but they have moved to Somerset now.

Cosford Bear stayed at home but the rest of us travelled down to Somerset.  Aunty Ann and Uncle Derek were very pleased to see us, and had tea and cakes waiting when we arrived, so soon we felt very much at home.  Waverley was delighted to see a picture of his steamship in Uncle Derek's study.

On our first full day with them, Grizzly said he would like to go to see another steamship called Freshspring.  One of the people mending it is Mr John Puddy, who I met when Polar and Grizzly were invited to spend a day on the Thames aboard the little steamboat Duet.

Polar said it would be difficult to fit all of us and her cameras into the Bear Bag, so suggested we organise into smaller teams of bears to go on adventures.  The other bears said I should go, as I already knew Mr Puddy, and take Waverley (as he is named after a steamship).  We decided Langwathby should come too, in case we saw Grizzly's old RAF base at Chivenor.

Grizzly thought Freshspring was in dry dock at Appledore, which is in Devon (but not too far from Aunty Ann and Uncle Derek's house), so Uncle Derek drove us over there (through some very nasty traffic jams because a main road was closed) only to find that the boat had been moved back up the river to Bideford.

We decided we would explore Appledore before going to look for our boat.  It was a lovely little town, with pretty coastal cottages and a harbour full of small boats.  Polar carried us in our bag most of the time but we were allowed out to say "Hello!" to a window full of Stuffie friends.

While our human friends had a pub lunch, we watched the boats in the estuary, and were very excited to see the RNLI lifeboat.  It wasn't going very fast, so we think they were training rather than rescuing anyone, but we all waved and cheered.

Grizzly pointed out Chivenor, on the other side of the estuary, where he spent some of his RAF time when he was young.  There are no planes there now but you can still see the hangers, through binoculars or a telescope.

Then it was time to visit the boat.  Grizzly told the volunteers working on it we were Mr Puddy's friends and asked if we could come aboard, and they said we could.

 

One of the volunteers started showing us around.  Imagine how thrilled we were to find a whole crew of small bears down in what had been the human crew's quarters!

"There's a lot of work for us, even though we're not going to sea yet," they told us.  "So we need lots of snacks and lots of naps."

 

The bunks certainly looked very cosy, at least for small bears, though they would have been quite small for humans.

Another of the crew bears showed us the original plans of the ship, which used to take fresh water out to Royal Navy ships in the Mediterranean Sea.  It had huge water tanks, but the plan is to convert some of this space into cabins for passengers.

We were allowed to meet the ship's Master who, as you can see, is also a small bear!  He has a very smart cabin indeed.  He is very proud of his ship and pleased with the work the humans are doing to it, although he hopes they will hurry up and get her seaworthy.

We were carried right up to the bridge of the ship, where we saw the compass and the wheel, and we had a marvellous view of the big road bridge across the Torridge.

 

Then it was time to go down to the engine room.  By this time, Mr Puddy had arrived on his bicycle, so he could tell us all about the ship's engines.  As you can see, these are also kept clean and properly oiled by a team of small bears!

The boiler is just like the one on the Daniel Adamson steamboat we saw on the River Weaver. 

 

Mr Puddy and his friends want their boat to do trips and special events too, but they also hope to use it to encourage human cubs to learn more about engineering, old and new, so they encourage local schools to visit and do lots of community events. 

We were sad when it was time to leave our new bear friends on Freshspring but we didn't stay sad for very long, as Uncle Derek drove us back across the big bridge to see a very small railway.

This was the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, which runs a little stretch of line from a station at a place called Woody Bay.  We were just too late to have a ride on the train but we did see the last one coming back to the station.

Once all the passengers had got off and things were quieter, Polar let us out of our bag so we could run down to the engine sheds for a closer look at the engine.

"Hanley and Huddlesford will be very jealous," said Langers.  "They love steam engines, and these are proper little bear-sized engines!"

 

We loved the little station too, although Waverley was dsappointed he couldn't get any chocolate out of the machine.

Once the little engine had been put away in its shed, it was time for us to set off back to Aunty Ann and Uncle Derek's house, and to see what the other bears had been doing while we were away.

We said goodbye to the sea and the little railway and Uncle Derek drove us back across Exmoor, with Polar navigating.  It looked quite wild country, with high moors and wooded valleys where we thought there might be wild bears, although Uncle Derek says not.

"I wonder what we'll do tomorrow?" said Langers.

"It will be Hanley, Huddlesford and Endon's turn to have an adventure tomorrow," I told him.  "We mustn't be selfish bears; it will be our turn to stay at home." 

And Huddlesford will tell you what they did in another post about our holiday soon. 

 

You can find out more about SS Freshspring here:  https://ssfreshspring.co.uk/

Bathtime Again!

Last month, while it was still warm and before we went on a little holiday, Polar said it was time for us to have our baths.

Endon was first into the wash basin, because he wanted to get his paws clean after all his busy gardening work.

Then it was my turn to be washed.

To make sure all the soap bubbles were rinsed out of our fur, Polar ran a nice, warm bath for us to swim in, while Hanley and Huddlesford had their washes. 

Hanley wriggled when Polar picked him up to wash him and tried to run away, as he always says he likes to smell of bear, but Polar said he smelt of beer rather than bear, so he had to have a proper bath. 

Huddlesford enjoyed his bath in nice, gentle shampoo, then floating in the bath with the rest of us.  His fur was soon even glossier than it had been after his baths on the boat!

When Polar was sure we had washed all the suds out of our fur, it was time to get out of the bath and let the water drain out of our fur, then to wrap us in warm, fluffy towels.

Polar lifted us into the washing basket and carried us out into the garden, so the breeze and sunshine could dry us thoroughly.

Soon, we were stretched out on towel hammocks in the sunshine, pretending to be at the beach.

"I wonder if we are going to the beach on our holiday?" said Endon.

"I hope we see steam trains," said Hanley.

"I hope we see pretty gardens," said Endon.

"And I hope we see boats," I said.

And we all closed our eyes and made a wish for a happy holiday, which I'll tell you about in my next post.
 

Garden Bears' World - Harvest Time in the Garden

Hello everyone!  It's time for another Garden Bears' World with me, Endon Bear.  I'm going to tell you about what's happening in our garden right now, as we get ready for autumn. 

Polar has been picking the pears - there were not many good ones this year - and tomatoes from the greenhouse.  The green striped one isn't waiting to ripen, it is a variety called Green Zebra and is that colour when ripe, but still quite sweet and tasty, so we can make rainbow coloured tomato salads!

We are still growing leafy salads but in the greenhouses rather than out in the garden now it is starting to get cooler and to protect them from very heavy rain.

While I was in the greenhouse, I also checked on the auriculas Polar and I separated and potted up a month ago.  They are looking very healthy and happy, but there are more than we need to brighten up our garden, so Polar is hoping to do a plant sale when they are in flower next spring.

Out in the vegetable patch, Polar and I planted some red kale and covered it over with one of the netting frames Grizzly made to keep the cats and pigeons off.  Lots of land cress has self-seeded in this plot, so we organised some of it into rows; it is very hardy and is an excellent winter and early spring salad crop.

Then we decided it was time to harvest the biggest of the pumpkins!  There are a few smaller ones too, but we are going to see if they will get a little bit bigger before we bring them into the greenhouse to finish ripening.

One of the brightest vegetables in the garden is rainbow chard.  You can eat the leaves like spinach but also use the stalks to make casseroles and stir-fries very colourful.  We planted these in between the red cabbages, which are almost ready to cut and eat now.

Checking on the flower beds, I was pleased to see that the sedum is attracting lots of honeybees.  There are lots of these in our front garden but only one in the back, so I am hoping to persuade Polar to plant some more.

Another plant that looks lovely this year is the hydrangea paniculata, which took a long time to get established but has now settled in really well.

Then it was time to help Polar and Grizzly with a little demolition job - mainly by staying safely out of the way!  The arch across the path in front of the ponds had started to go rotten and swayed about in high winds, so they decided to take it down.  

The garden looks much bigger without it and we think some of the roses will grow better with more light reaching them too and, although we bears will miss climbing on it, there are still plenty of trees and shrubs for us.

That's all for today's Garden Bears' World but I'll be back soon with an update on what's happening on the allotment with our magic beans and more tomatoes.

Bye, bye, and happy gardening everyone!