Small Bears' Easter Egg Hunt

The day after having our baths, we put clean clothes on and looked forward to more adventures.  Grizzly and Polar were planning to take us on a little boat journey but first, on Easter morning, they had a treat for us.

'Because you were such good bears when you had your baths, we've got you some little chocolate Easter eggs,' Polar said.

'We've hidden them in the garden,' said Grizzly.  'Let's see if you can find them all - there are four each!'

We skipped outside and Polar gave us a little dish to collect them in.  The smaller bears wanted to have first go hunting for eggs and scurried away, leaving me minding the dish.

Soon Hanley Bear was back, carrying a small blue egg that smelled of delicious chocolate.

'Polar or Grizzly hid it in a pot of thyme, thinking the herb would hide the smell of the chocolate,' said Hanley.  'But bear noses are too clever for that, duck!'

Endon came back soon afterwards.  His first egg had been hidden in some mint but he had also sniffed it out.

They soon found another egg apiece.

'It's your turn to search now, Sonning!' cried Endon.

I decided to see if there were any eggs near the pond.  Sure enough, there was one tucked in amongst the dwarf comfrey and another in a little stone pot full of moss that looked almost like a real bird's nest!

'See if you can find any more!'  I said to Endon, when I got back.  The little pot already had six eggs in it, but there were six more to find.

Endon ran all the way down the path to the vegetable plot, sniffing for chocolate eggs all the way.  He found one hidden among some forget-me-not flowers, which were the same colour as the foil on the eggs.  Another was up on a big rhubarb leaf!

Hanley thought there might be more eggs hidden in the herb garden.  His keen little nose found one, even though it was in a pot with a very scenty lavender plant.  Then he found another in the little bed under the pear tree. 

'That's all of ours found,' Hanley Bear said.  'Just two of yours to go now, Sonning!'

I ran around the rest of the flower garden but I couldn't smell any chocolate eggs except the ones we had already collected.  I thought I could still smell something coming from the vegetable beds, so I went to look.

I found one in between some lettuces.  The hardest one to find was hidden in the leaves of a big leek.

'We've found all of them!' we cheered.  'Let's tell Polar and Grizzly!'

When we got indoors, we had another surprise.  Our lovely friend Gecko had sent us an Easter present!

When we opened it, we found a packet of seeds for some pretty red, white and blue flowers, and a lovely old Ladybird book about making pottery.  Hanley Bear was so thrilled with the book, which included lots about Stoke-on-Trent, that he started reading it to Endon straight away.

'Can I plant our flowers?'  I asked Polar.  'When they're blooming, I want to show them to Bertie, the RAF bear!'

'Not today, little Sonning,' she said.  'We need to find a space for them in the garden.  When the daffodils have finished, in a few weeks' time, there will be a good place for them and some other pretty annuals, and you can sow the seeds there and help me to look after them.'

But, before that, we had another boat journey to enjoy!

How to Bath your Bears

After all our adventures, Polar was quite right when she said we were grubby bears who needed baths, so when the weather turned warm and sunny at Easter, we knew what to expect. 

Hanley and I were bathed last summer and we quite liked it, but we also like the smell of nice places we've visited in our fur.  We've also heard of small bears being put in the washing machine then hung out to dry by their ears, so when Polar told us it was bath day, we decided to hide.

Hanley and I jumped out of our bear basket and hid behind cushions on the settee, while Endon decided to climb to the top of the bookcase and tuck in behind a globe.

We didn't do a very good job of hiding, however, and soon Polar had found us.

'Be good bears and take off your pyjamas,' she said.  'There's a nice warm bath waiting for you and some fluffy towels, then you can dry off outdoors in the sunshine.'

'Boo!' we said, even though we weren't heading for the washing machine.  'We like smelling of bear!'

'That's all very well,' replied Polar.  'But you also smell of potting compost, damp caves, coal smoke and, in Hanley Bear's case, cheese and mushroom oatcakes!'  

We thought these were all nice smells, although we had to admit that our fur was starting to get a little bit sticky in places.  

Polar carried us into the kitchen, where we found a bowl of warm, bubbly water waiting for us.  We were brave bears and all jumped in together at first, then we took it in turns to have a good splash about while Polar rubbed our heads and ears to get them properly clean.

We were having lots of fun and would happily have spent all morning in our bath, if we hadn't needed to give ourselves plenty of time to dry properly.

We felt quite cold when we got out of the bowel but, before we could have our nice towels for drying off, Polar ran us some fresh warm water, with no shampoo in, to get all the soap bubbles out of our fur.

Then it was towel time!  Firstly, we were rolled up in a big bath towel and given hugs to get as much water out of our fur as possible.  After that, we went outdoors into the garden where we stretched out in the sunshine on a lovely warm towel, then bounced about on a towel hammock Polar had made using the clothes airer, letting the breeze fluff up our fur.

After a whole day lazing in the sunshine, we were completely dry and very clean, although we smelt of Polar's shampoo rather than bear.  However, I'm sure it won't be too long before we smell of small bear adventures again and, at the moment, it is far too cold and damp for us to have another bath!

Bears at the Mill

We have been so busy having small bear adventures that I've forgotten to tell you about one of them!

After we returned home from our Peak District adventure, Polar and Grizzly planned to have a couple of days at home.  Then, when Grizzly was looking at the map of where we had been, he saw somewhere else he would like to go. 

So off we went, in Polar and Grizzly's little red car, to a town called Cromford, in Derbyshire, which is famous for its industrial history.  Luckily, as well as having mills and history, it has a tea shop, so we bears could have Elevenses before we started to explore.

We were at Arkwright's Mill, which was the first water-powered cotton spinning mill in the world.  There is still a powerful stream running through the site, so we bears decided it was probably safest to stay in the bear bag while we were out in the courtyard.

Unlike Quarry Bank Mill, there isn't any working machinery here, but we enjoyed the guided tour and learning about Mr Arkwright.  We didn't think small bears would have been very useful factory workers, as we would have been too little.

We tried to make some cotton thread using tools which were used before there were factories, but we didn't do very well at that either, so we just bounced in the cotton until Polar caught us and put us back in the bear bag.

Out in the courtyard, under the cliff at the back of the site, we found what looked like a perfect cave for a small wild bear.  It even had some flowers growing just outside, like a little garden.  We called out 'Is anyone at home?', in Bear, but there was no reply, so maybe the bear who lives there had gone shopping? 

Polar and Grizzly took us for a walk along the river Derwent, which I had last seen joining the Trent near Shardlow, on my adventure travelling up to Staffordshire from the Thames.  We saw Mr Arkwright's big house and the church that he built, and then we saw a canal.

'This is the Cromford Canal,' Grizzly told us.  'It doesn't go very far now, so we can't come here in Uppie, but there is a trip boat that takes you as far as the pumping station.'

'And here it comes!' cheered Endon.

Unfortunately for us, the boat was coming back from its only journey of the day, but we were still allowed aboard to have a look around.  What had been the cargo area was now a super little floating café, with seats and tables for everyone and tea and cakes for them to buy.

At the stern, there was a traditional boatman's cabin, with a fold-down table and a lovely cosy stove and copper kettle.

Seeing the kettle made us think of tea and cake, and our little tummies started rumbling.  Although we couldn't have tea on the boat, there was a café at the wharf and they did scrummy things to eat, so Polar and Grizzly stopped there for tea before we went home.