Bears go back to Biddulph Grange

It is dull and rainy today but last week, when it was sunny and warm, Polar and Grizzly took us bears with them to visit the gardens at Biddulph Grange.  These are north of Stoke-on-Trent and are famous for having lots of smaller gardens within them, representing different countries.

There were lots of daffodils in bloom next to the car park.  As soon as we arrived, we ran across to see them.  Just seeing the cheerful yellow trumpets made us happy.  We skipped about between the daffodils until Polar and Grizzly called us away. 

'Come on bears!'  said Polar.  So we jumped back in our bear bag ready to be carried into the gardens.  One of the ladies who works there recognised us from our last visit and said hello to us!

Last time we visited, we explored the Italian gardens, 'Egypt' and 'China', but we didn't see the whole site.  This time, Polar carried us around the lake and through a tunnel.  We thought we were going to China again, but instead we found ourselves among tall conifer trees.

'Can we do some climbing?' asked Endon, looking up at the trees and sniffing their nice, fresh smell.'

'Only if you're good bears and don't climb too high,' Polar replied, so we were sensible bears and didn't climb  too much higher than Polar could reach, so she could catch us easily if we had to jump down.  There were pretty little green birds called siskins in some of the trees, eating seeds from the pine cones, but they flew away before we could climb close to them.

After plenty of time climbing, we got back in the bear bag and Polar carried us up a long, straight path between more conifers to a far corner of the gardens where there is a huge stone urn, taller than Grizzly or Polar.

Behind the urn is a secret path that leads through the woods, and here there are adventure play things for human cubs, like balance beams, bridges and a see-saw.  We tried to make the see-saw work but, even with all three of us at one end, it did not move.

'Never mind, bears,' said Grizzly.  'You can do some more climbing or jumping between the tree stumps.'

There were no human cubs about, because it was a school day, so we could play on everything we wanted to.  We climbed and jumped and ran and balanced along ropes and poles.  Sometimes it was nice to just sit in the sunshine.

After a little while, we heard the chimes of a church clock.  We counted them.  There were twelve.

'It's nearly lunchtime, bears!' Grizzly called.  'Which way do you want to go back to the café?' 

'Through China please,' I said. 

The smaller bears both agreed.  Polar lifted us into our bag and carried us through the stumpery and down the steps to China.  Because it was soon after Chinese New Year, there were bright red lanterns everywhere.

We sat on the patio in the sunshine to enjoy our lunch.  Polar got a very tasty cheese scone with chutney, which we helped her to eat, then we left via the shop.

We all went 'boo!' when we saw the title of this book for sale, but Polar says it's a famous book by a very nice man, written to help human cubs learn to read, and no bears get hurt in it.

'Can we come here again?' asked Endon, who had really enjoyed climbing in the fir trees.

'Definitely bears,' Polar said. 

We all cheered and sang happy bear songs all the way home.

In Our Garden

It has been unusually sunny and mild here recently, and Polar and Grizzly's garden is looking very spring-like.  Last weekend, after helping our human guardians to do some tidying up in the borders, we enjoyed playing in the sunshine.

The snowdrops were still in flower and there were big clumps of cream and pink hellebores all around the lawn, looking very pretty.  Polar told us to be careful around them, as they have leaves with sharp edges.

Because it has been dry, we were able to run about on the lawn.  Last year, all this was covered in snow!

'We've cut the main trunk of the hazel tree back, to let more light into the greenhouse,' Polar told us.  'We've left a stump that should make a good climbing post for you bears.'

'Let's go and see!' cheered little Endon, who loves climbing things.

He hopped down the path and was soon scrambling up the post.  

'This is brilliant!' he called.  'Climb up and see for yourselves!'

Hanley and I don't climb as well as Endon.  The main trunk of the hazel stump was quite straight and I found it quite tricky to get a good grip.

 'Come on, pal!' said Hanley Bear, offering me his paw.  'And don't look down!'

With Hanley's help, I got up to a point where there was the remnant of another branch.  I felt very pleased with myself and looked down to see how far up I had climbed.  However, I shouldn't have done that, as it was quite a long way down, without any branches to catch if I slipped and it made me feel very dizzy.  Little Endon saw Polar was working in the vegetable patch and called her over to lift me down. 

'Poor little Sonning,' she said, carrying me up to the patio and sitting me next to some lovely crocuses.  'You're quite shaky, aren't you?  Sit here in the sunshine and calm yourself down.'

The smaller bears carried on climbing for a little while, until, suddenly, they heard a buzzard's mewing call high above them.

'Run, Endon, run!' shouted Hanley, and both small bears slid down the tree and ran up the path towards the house, before trying to hide in a tub of yellow crocuses.  I ducked down behind the pots next to me.

'What's wrong now, bears?' asked Grizzly, who was bringing a cup of tea out for Polar, when he saw us all cowering.

'There's a big, scary buzzard overhead,' I whispered.  'We're afraid it will swoop down and catch us!'

Grizzly reassured us that the buzzard wouldn't come into the garden and, even if it did, it wouldn't catch us, but we kept a sharp eye on the sky in case it came back.  I think we will enjoy playing in the garden a lot more when the leaves are on the trees and buzzards won't be able to see us running about. 

Three Bears go to Dinosaur Island

As I mentioned in my previous post, we had a long train journey (two train journeys, in fact) to visit Grizzly's grandcubs recently. 

While we were staying at their house, as well as playing with their toys and seeing some of our furry friends from our previous visits, we went with them to Dinosaur Island.

When the human cubs said where we were going, the smaller bears were afraid we would be eaten by real dinosaurs.  I remembered the dinosaur statue in the centre of the village.

'I'm sure there won't be real dinosaurs there!' I said to Hanley and Endon.  'Or, if there are, they will be nice ones that won't eat us.  After all, they haven't eaten the human cubs.'

'The human cubs are bigger than us,' Hanley replied.  'Just because they haven't been eaten, it doesn't mean we won't be!'  Endon and I agreed he had a point and so we told Polar and Grizzly we wanted to stay indoors and play with the Lego instead. 

'There are no real dinosaurs there,' Polar assured us.  'It's an adventure playground and they boys really want you to come with us.'  We trust Polar, so we agreed to go, but you can imagine how frightened we were when we reached the park and the first thing we saw was a big, brown dinosaur!

'Agh!' cried little Endon.  'It's a Triceratops.  I bet it eats small bears!'

'No, it eats plants,' Hanley Bear answered, knowledgably.  'I'll show you it's nothing to be scared of.'  He scrambled out of our bag and ran towards the dinosaur.

'Careful it doesn't bite you, or stab you with one of those horns!' I called out.

Hanley Bear climbed up and stood on the horn above the triceratop's nose.

'Wow Hanley!' said Endon.  'You're such a brave bear!'

'Not really,' Hanley replied.  'It's made of wood!'

Hanley was right.  There were other dinosaurs all around the park, with human cubs climbing all over them, but none of them were roaring or biting, because they were all wooden!  

We were very relieved.  We watched Grizzly's grandcubs playing with their friends, climbing and sliding and even flying through the air on a zip-wire.  Hanley and Endon went to play hide-and-seek with the cubs.  I had to look the other way while they found places to hide, then help to find them. 

When it was time for snacks, they shared their Bear chews with us and gave us the cards from inside the wrappers, because they are very kind human cubs.

We were sad when it was time to go home, as Dinosaur Island had been lots of fun, but when we got back to their house, we remembered there were lots of other fun things to do when we're visiting Grizzly's grandcubs, like playing table football, building Lego things and running in the garden.

And we get cub hugs too!

Bears on Trains

We went to visit Grizzly's grandcubs last weekend.  We always enjoy seeing the grandcubs, who are very kind and love small bears, and we like playing with their Star Wars toys and building things with their Lego, but we don't usually enjoy the journey to and from their house.  

Polar and Grizzly take it in turns to drive their little car along some nasty, busy roads full of fast cars and big lorries called the M6, M40 and M25, while we sit in our bear basket on the back seat with our paws over our eyes, hoping we will arrive safely. 

This time, however, instead of going in the little red car, we caught the train.  Polar found a rucksack we could sit in, on top of her camera bag, so we could see where we were going.  Grizzly ordered a taxi to the station and we arrived in plenty of time.  This meant Hanley and I could show Endon the little garden on the middle platform while we waited for our train.

A group of local people look after the gardens and have made them very pretty and a good place for small bears to play and explore.  The sun was out and the daffodils were starting to flower, so it felt a lot like spring.

'Come along, bears!' Polar called, when the signal changed for our train.  'We don't want to leave you behind!'

We jumped back into our rucksack and Polar carried us onto the train.  Polar and Grizzly found a table seat and Grizzly put his bag underneath ours, so we had good views out of the window.

Soon, we reached Stoke-on-Trent station, then we were out into the countryside.  As we travelled south, I could show the other bears the canals I had travelled along on my way to Stoke-on-Trent.  When we got to a place called Milton Keynes, we had to get off the first train and wait for another one.

'This will take us further into London, then divert around the city centre and down to Croydon,' Grizzly explained.  'When we get there, we catch another train and then a bus.'

I was worried about all these changes of transport.  'Don't leave us behind anywhere!' I said to Polar.

'Don't worry, little Sonning,' she said.  'You bears are very important to us and you're travelling with my camera - I never go anywhere without that!'

Hanley Bear liked the next part of the journey because we could see Wembley Stadium.

'I wonder if I'll ever go there, to watch Stoke in the Cup Final?' he said to us.  Endon and I said we were sure he would, either next year or the year after, but we don't really know.

Then Polar showed us the Grand Union Canal branch that goes to Little Venice and Paddington, best known to us for it's famous bear.  We would definitely like to go there on board Uppie one day.  Polar said she and Grizzly went six years ago, before they had us bears in the crew, and had a marvellous time at the Cavalcade Festival.

Soon after that, the train crossed a bridge over the Thames.  Little Endon thought this was very exciting indeed.  We caught our last train at Croydon, as planned, and our bus arrived just after we got to Horsham station.  

'We'll be at the cubs' house soon,' I told the other bears.  

'I hope they will be really pleased to see us and let us play with all their brilliant toys,' said Hanley.  'I want to fly the X-wing again!'


'I hope they will let us have tea and naps first,' I replied.  It had been a very interesting journey and much nicer than driving along the horrible motorways, but I was still quite tired.

The human cubs had lots of adventures planned for us and wanted to play straight away, but luckily it was nearly dinner time when we arrived, so we got to have a little rest before the fun started.