I'm Back!

First of all I wish to give a huge apology to my fans for being away for so long. It has been such a busy summer (*cough* and that spring bit too) that I have just had no time to be blogging.

I have been here and there, learning new things and generally being a busy bear-about-town. However, I have been very naughty in not posting the last part of my holiday last year so here it is, moi at the marvellous Castle Howard.

The bear is back!

And here I am in the huge grand entrance of Castle Howard. This floor was put down in 1703! Blimey. It was certainly cold on the beary posterior!

Me on the grand staircase. Also very cold.

As I'm sure you know (being very well educated fans!) a lot of Castle Howard was destroyed by a fire in the 1940's. Much has been rebuilt however and a lot of it was given a make over in 2008 for the filming of a new version of Brideshead Revisited.

In the above picture you can see Michael Gambon (Dumbledore himself!) and here am I on the very same bed! Sadly it is made entirely from chipboard and skillfully made to look old but at a glance you would never know.

I bet you're impressed though.

I did have loads more pictures of the house but I wasn't on them so stuff that!

Lastly before we go and visit the gardens, here is a picture of one of my relatives in the room in which Winston Churchill was born.

He is a fine looking chap and we had a good chat before I carried on with my tour. He shared quite a lot of interesting things about Winnie (Churchill that is - not Pooh) but he swore me to secrecy and bears never tell!

Right, here I am outside looking back on the house. Trust me, it took my little legs positively ages to get that far away.

Here I am at the Temple of the Four Winds in the grounds. It was used as a place for refreshment and reading while servants made food in the rooms beneath. Like the house it was designed by Vanbrugh in around 1720 but was finished by another designer after his death in 1726.

In this next shot I can be seen on one of the huge statues that so typify Castle Howard. It was quite a windy day though and you can see that I have toppled over. I would like to add that I am not often seen on my back with my legs in the air and I had definitely not been drinking!

After that I needed somewhere a little more sheltered so I visited the lovely flower gardens.


And the vegetable gardens too.


How about that for an ear of corn. It's bigger than me!

So there you have it - the beary tour of Castle Howard. I hope to have some new pictures for you soon as tomorrow I am attending a bee keeping course!

Bye for now!