Geromino the Fearless Gardener!

It is not widely known but I am a keen gardener, which can be pretty challenging when you are less than 12 inches high!  Never let it be said though that a bear does not accept those challenges nose on and rise to them! 

As I am not having a holiday this year I thought I would share my garden with you instead.  

Here I am watering the chilli plants.  As you can see they are quite small (like me!) but they have plenty of bite and made my eyes water the first time I tried one.

This took a bit of effort but I wanted to show you one of my cucumbers.  This is one of the last ones now and it is a bit wonky but it will taste just as nice as a straight one!

As you can see here I am just doing a spot of weeding in the sweet potatoes.  The vines are getting quite big now which is a good sign that things are also growing beneath the soil too.

At this time of year we should always remember to feed our feathered chums.  This seed bin is quite a long jump down but I'm sure the birds will appreciate the effort.  The nuts are for the squirrels - mustn't forget the furry friends either!

Blimey, this is hard work!  These are the tomatoes and it has been quite a climb up here.  Worth it though - they are Galina, small, sweet and quite delicious.  A bit like me really!

Oh I just can't help it, I'm going to have to eat one.

 This is the area the bee hive is going to go.  It's a nice secluded spot down by the greenhouse and just perfect for bees.  Didn't I mention that I was taking up beekeeping?  A bear has to have hobbies, you know.

This is one of my favourite spots.  I could just sit here all day and watch the pond.  I've had to cover it with netting to keep the leaves out of it because my neighbour has a pesky apple tree that hangs over.  Great for pond shade, bad for blossom, apples and leaves!  

And eventually, when the day's work is done and my little legs are worn out there's nothing like relaxing in the safe arms of a relative!

TTFN!

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!

A bear sized railway

Following the very nice comments from two of my readers, I thought you might like to see another train adventure. This one is a more bear-sized railway!

This is Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, famous for its Christopher Wren design and Robert Adam interiors, not to mention 25 acres of award winning gardens, including one of Europe's largest double herbaceous borders. Phew!

And hidden away in those marvellous gardens is a bear's delight - one of the best miniature railways I've ever seen!

I saw four engines altogether but this was the most spectacular. Here I am eagerly waiting to go.

The railway boasts a station...
... a turning circle...
... a tunnel (it was too dark in there to take a picture!) and a railway bridge across a large pond.

Here I am waving to some people on the river. Everyone waved back too!

Ah, to feel the wind blowing in my fur!!

Heaven!

There will be more from Newby Hall in another post but I just had to share the train with you first.

The best day ever!

It is a little known fact that bears love trains. We are for the most part creatures of style and nothing is more exciting than a huge, lumbering, noisy, elegant steam train.

Here I am at The National Railway Museum in York which was established in 1975 and now contains over 100 locomotives. Coo!

This is me on LNWR 2-4-0 no. 790 Hardwicke. She was built in 1892 at Crewe Works for the London and North Western Railway and was withdrawn from service in 1932. Just think of the history beneath me!

As you can see this is one of the American style trains but I got so excited I forgot to write its name down. Pretty cool though.

The next picture is me on the Japanese Bullet train.

How about that for comfort. By the way, the story about the men in white gloves pushing people into the trains so that they can get the doors to shut is absolutely true!

Here is something that amused.

I'm sure that by 'lower orders' he was not including bears!

With the advancement of the railway the Duke's fears did indeed come to pass and the country was opened up to people from the cities. The seaside particularly became everyone's favourite holiday destination.

What do you think? Does my bum look big in this?

Or this?

Although I am too old now to fulfil my dream of being an engine driver, I must admit that I do look rather dashing here although I am perhaps a little short to reach the controls!

Now here's a train to get a little bear excited. This is Great Western 4-6-0 Hall Class 5972 'Olton Hall' dressed up as the Hogwarts Express. Magic! She was built at Swindon in 1937 and was preserved in 1981.

Here she is before the make-over.

It was amazing day at the Railway Museum (which has the highest amount of visitors of any museum outside London) but I was a little disappointed to find otu that Mallard was out on display to another museum. I would have dearly loved to see that beautiful train.

Here's a little info for you.

The Doncaster built Mallard is the holder of the world speed record for steam traction on rail. This record was set on the 3rd July 1938 (same year as it was built) when the 70 ft, 102 ton locomotive registered a speed of 126 mph. Blimey!

LNER Chief Mechanical Engineer Sir Nigel Gresley designed the Mallard. He came up with the name while feeding the ducks at Salisbury Hall.

The £8,500 Mallard ended its service in 1963 after a lifetime distance of almost 1.5 million miles. It's official name was LNER 4-6-2 A4 class No 4468 Mallard.

Now that really is magic!

Beningbrough Hall

Hello and welcome to Beningbrough Hall and gardens, just outside York. These snaps of me were taken when I visited in September. Although it's all cold and frosty now, it was a lovely day back then and all the flowers were still out.

The hall was built in 1716 (wow!) and and is very beautiful. It also features a lot of 'down stairs' placesto see as well. Here I am in the laundry. My word, I'm very glad I don't have to wash my clothes this way.

This is me on the front steps to the hall just before I went in. Because it's run by the National Trust, I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside. Meanies!

Look at this! This is the best giant teapot I've ever seen. It is covered with hundreds of different hand made ceramic tiles. Made me fancy a cuppa!

The best way to finish any National Trust visit is a turn around the shop. I found a few things to buy and the nice lady is just putting them in a bag for me.

Good thing no one thought I was for sale!

More next time with a visit to Castle Howard!

Lost at Fountains Abbey

My first day out was to Fountains Abbey. It's an amazing place, dear reader, and I'd really recommend getting there early before the ravening hoards.

This little chap was certainly caught by surprise and scurried away very quickly when he saw me. He was obviously looking for that last little bit of food before the people (and bears) started arriving.

This is the watermill at Fountains Abbey. It was built in the 12th century and restored in 2009 and is one of the finest examples of its kind in Europe.

Here I am at the exhibition of stonework in the watermill. As well as a mill and granary the building was also used as a stone mason's workshop.

The ruins of the Abbey itself are fabulous. Apparently it was started in 1132 and was closed in 1539 by Henry VIII. As you can see the stone is the same colour as me! Can you see me here on the bridge?

Sitting here I can't help but wonder what it would look like today if it had remained a Cistercian monastery. Certainly I wouldn't be sitting here having my photo taken!

Lastly, here I am at the Octagon Tower in the water gardens that now surround the Abbey.

Just after this picture was taken a little girl ran up shouting to her mother that she had found a bear. I had to tell her that I was not actually lost but was on my holidays. She was a little concerned that I was on my own but I reassured her and we went our separate ways.

I will leave my visit to Fountains Abbey with a titbit about the Cistercian order that founded the monastery.

Under Cistercian rules the monks lived a rigorous daily life, committed to long periods of silence, a diet barely above subsistence level, and wore the regulation habit of coarse undyed sheep's wool, which earned them the name "White Monks." Lastly, underwear was forbidden.

Ouch!