Last week while in Cornwall the humans decided to take myself and my little brother Nye to Roskilly’s Organic Farm.  Nye had not visited a farm before and was looking forward to seeing all the animals, especially the pigs.   When we arrived at the pigsty most of the piglets were hiding in the hay.After a few minutes of watching them they all suddenly got up..…and ran out into the field.

Nye was sat on the fence but got so excited he forgot to hold tight so slipped off and fell with the pigs.  Unfortunately we don’t have any images of what followed, as the humans were too busy with the task of rescuing Nye. The piglets were very interested in him and rushed over to sniff at him.  He couldn’t be reached from over the fence so Karen put her hand in through the bottom of the fence and held onto Nye’s leg to stop the piglets running off with him.  Fortunately the young pigs found Karen’s hand more interesting and licked at that instead of nibbling Nye.  Karen held Nye up a bit and then my other human managed to grab him and pull him up out of the mud to safety.Nye continued to smile – I don’t think he realised just how dirty the experience had left him. The humans decided that he would have to sit in the car on a plastic bag for the rest of the visit…After lots of human hand-washing we continued to look round the farm. There were some very sweet lambs.The chickens were all indoors (to reduce the risk of them catching bird flu).This big brown goat was very friendly.  Goats have a reputation for eating anything.  I am glad that Nye didn’t fall in with the goats.We went and had a look around the farm buildings.  The open fire grills were all lit and very warming to my fur.There was a sign telling people all about the grills.I had a go at driving this rather splendid red tractor.I could hear some ‘cheep cheep cheeping’ sounds while on the tractor.  Further investigation found the source.The farm has lots of dairy cows that were all out in the fields grazing while we were there.  They make ice cream with the milk which is very yummy indeed.I went for a little walk around the ponds.  The ducks swam off as soon as they realised we didn’t have any food for them; before we had a chance to photograph them.  We started to feel a bit sorry for little Nye left in the car on his own, so before we left we bought him an ice cream and took it to him.As soon as we got home Nye was put in the washing machine in a special net bag on the ‘silk’ wash so as not to spin him about too much.Unfortunately the mud was ingrained on Nye’s bottom and he was still dirty when the wash cycle ended.   He needed to soak for a while.Karen scrubbed his fur after soaking and popped him back into the washing machine again, this time on the ‘quick wash’ where he was spun around rather more.   Some bears call the washing machine the ‘Bear Jacuzzi’.

After his 2nd stint in the washing machine Nye was as good as new.  He sat with his back against the radiator and was soon dry.

It was very interesting visiting the farm, and I think it would be a very good place to take young humans.  As for Nye, we won’t be taking him on any more outings!

Horace the Alresford Bear 04/04/17

To find out more about Roskilly’s Organic Farm see:   http://www.roskillys.co.uk/