I live in an area of Bristol where every year artists arrive from all over the world and paint sides of buildings and the shutters on the shops, as well as artwork on big boards. Yesterday evening I went off for a toddle round to see some of the permanent works of art. Here is a selection…
I love the purple lion on Lion Stores.
Bright and cheerful design on the florist shop.
There were lots of images of boats along this wall. The pirates looked very scary making someone ‘walk the plank’.
This is the shutter on the butcher’s shop. Thought provoking. My human doesn’t eat much meat, and when she does it is outdoor reared, so she liked this one.
Hello.
I nearly got stuck in the railings looking at this one.
Lots going on here…
I am a small bear but even if I was big this would still be a huge work of art. The eyes look very real.
If you look to the left of ‘THE GALLERY’ you might notice a picture painted by Banksy when he was 4 years old 😉 
This one is thought provoking.
I see pink elephants but I haven’t had any ale!
A good way to cheer up a dreary doorway, though the bird looks a bit grumpy.
This one is very thought provoking and made me feel rather sad. The ice in the Artic is slowly melting meaning that one day these bears may not have anywhere to live.
If you’d like to know more about Upfest have a look at the website:
We then set off along the path to explore the estate and the manor house. The house used to belong to Charles Wade, who started collecting things when he was seven years old. In 1951 Mr Wade gave the house and its contents to the National Trust. The first interesting item that I spotted was a windmill with lots of little wooden men that moved around as the sails turned.
The windmill is a replica of the original one which is kept inside to protect it from the weather. The windmill was on a tall post, not on top of my head as in this photo!
Further along I was delighted to find a special area for bears, though the humans said it was for children really.
I spent a while exploring; the humans couldn’t see where I was until I popped up over the fence.
I was very pleased to find a little bear shelter in the woods too.
In the orchard I climbed up into one of the trees to get a closer look at the shiny red apples.
After walking up through the cottage gardens I clambered up onto a wall to have a look at all the doves sat on top of the dove cote.
I forgot to ‘mind my head’ in a couple of places but as my head is quite soft luckily it didn’t hurt much.
There was a bear sized typewriter of the sort that would have been used during the first world war. I like being able to see the type hammers going up and down hitting the paper on old-fashioned typewriters. 
Here I am outside the main Manor House. Mr Wade didn’t live inside the Manor House, he had lived in a much smaller building in the garden called The Priest’s House. Over 400 years ago the house and gardens were part of an Abbey.
This is the bathroom in the Priest’s house. The bath looked very deep; Mr Wade must have been able to sit in it with the water right up to his neck.
In this photo Mr Wade’s box bed is just behind me. 
We went outside again and I had a little rest as my legs were starting to feel a bit tired.
The model village next the ‘harbour’ was full of tiny houses too small for bears. They were replicas as the ones that Mr Wade made are kept inside nowadays to stop them being damaged by the weather.
When we went into the manor house I found the original houses stored high up on some shelves.
There were several trunks inside the house with very complex locking mechanisms. This one is over 400 years old. I think it must have been very difficult to open without the key.
There weren’t any bears on display anywhere though I did find some other ancient animals and dolls locked up in a glass case. They all looked a bit worried.
Upstairs we found an amazing display of very old bicycles. I rather like this one, the seat looks just the right size for me. Unfortunately as everything is so very old I wasn’t able to try it out.
Here I am in front of a huge clock that was telling the wrong time!
I don’t know whether Mr Wade was able to play any musical instruments but he certainly collected many. 
I wondered whether all the buckets were there in case of fire or whether Mr Wade just liked buckets!
I tried to have a conversation with chap but I don’t think anyone was inside!
This is not a bear sized helmet!
After being inside the helmet I needed some fresh air so went outside to explore in the kitchen garden. The yellow courgettes were growing well.
There were some courgettes being sold on the produce table but my humans forgot to buy them; I think they got distracted by the lovely sweet peas in the bucket.
Sheep live in the field outside. They had all recently been shorn and so were looking quite thin.
I’m not sure what this plant is, but the bees certainly like it. 
Wandering back up to the entrance I managed to get caught up in a burdock plant. The humans managed to free me; then I carried a few seeds along with me a for while before brushing them off my fur. 
This was a good visit food wise. Before leaving it was necessary to have afternoon tea. Yum, yum, yum.
I then noticed a sign stating that we were at a site that had been used for testing rockets.
Here I am looking at the place where rockets were tested. Their engines were started up but they didn’t actually take off here, they were strapped into special gantries to keep them still. If everything worked the rockets were taken to Australia to be launched into space.
I spotted a couple of rabbits hopping about but they didn’t wave. I think they are quite cautious when it comes to bears.
The rockets gathered large amounts of information about space. A Black Arrow rocket launched the first British satellite. The satellite is no longer used but it still orbits around the earth twice a day.
Here I am sat on a life size scale model of the Prospero satellite.
In another room there was some equipment which was used for gathering information during the tests. I climbed up for a closer look but I didn’t touch!
Here I am in the control room. It isn’t actually the original equipment, but I think it looks quite impressive.
The Old Battery, which was built in 1861 by the Royal Engineers, and their site office was the first building constructed. 
Before going into The Cartridge Store I had to put on special clothing made of calico to ensure that I didn’t take any gunpowder out of the building.
I was very excited to find an entrance to a tunnel leading to an 1899 searchlight emplacement. Here I am running back to the humans to tell them about it!
I climbed down to the tunnel using a spiral staircase fitted by the National Trust; access used to be via a ladder.
The tunnel was very long and quite a walk for a small bear.
I was quite relieved to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
There was an excellent view of The Needles from The Searchlight Emplacement. Fortunately I didn’t get my head stuck.
The tearoom is situated inside The Signal Station. The hot quiche lorraine warmed me up as a cold wind had blown up outside. 
I managed to persuade the humans to buy me some cake too 🙂
Yum yum yum……. tea soaked fruit cake
Here I am in front of The Signal Station in the sheltered pathway to the position finding cell.
There was a special instrument in the Position Finding Cell for gathering information about the whereabouts of ships and the direction in which they were travelling.
The weather was changing and I was quite worried that my fur could get a soaking so I had one last look at rather splendid Needles before we hurried off down the hill towards the car.
I stopped briefly to admire the coloured sands of Alum Bay, which is situated next to The Needles.
After showing National Trust membership cards to a man in a hut I bought a souvenir guidebook.
I had a good look at the top of the windmill, where there is a big wheel and a wooden screw called a ‘Worm Screw’. There used to be chains that hung down and the miller would have used the chains to turn the the top of the mill, known as ‘The Cap’ to face the wind.
I also had a good look at the four wooden frames (before posing for a photo by the door). The frames would have been covered in canvas sailcloth, and a small boy known as a ‘Nipper’ had the job of climbing out onto the frames to attach the cloth. I don’t think I would want to be a nipper.
Once inside the windmill I set about climbing up to the top. This took me quite a while.
At the top there was a trap door. I was a tad worried that it might suddenly open up so I decided not to walk over it. Sacks of grain used to be hoisted up through the trap door.
Grain would have been tipped out of the sacks into this huge wooden bin. The grain then traveled downwards through canvas chutes to the hopper above the mill stones on the floor below.
There was an enormous wooden wheel with an iron band around the outside; known as ‘The Great Brake Wheel’. The miller would have applied the brake by pulling on a rope (which was attached to a lever) which was passed down on the outside of the mill. The Great Brake Wheel was used to slow down or stop ‘The Wallower’ (the horizontal wheel) which drove the upright shaft. 
I carefully went back down the wooden ladder to ‘The Stone Floor’ where the millstones are housed. I got a bit distracted here as there were some windows, so I climbed up to have a closer look at the sail frames.
One of my humans took a photo of me from the outside!
The next floor down is ‘The Machine Floor’, with the huge upright shaft which takes power from ‘The Wallower’ at the top of the mill to the great spur wheel. Here I am sitting on the leather belting drive having a good look at everything.
Downstairs there are two millstones that make me look like I am even smaller than I am.
There were also some weights which were impossible for me to lift.
I climbed onto the scales but they didn’t even move. This must mean that I haven’t eaten too many cakes yet.
On the ground floor I was pleased to find some miller style clothing for people and bears to try on. I rather like the hat but I am not sure about the smock, it was a tad large.
Before leaving the mill I had a go at milling some grain using some small bear sized millstones.
After a few minutes of watching them they all suddenly got up..
…and ran out into the field.
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’.
The tide was out though so I climbed into the bear carrier for the trip as the surface looked a bit wet and I didn’t have any wellington boots with me.
When the tide is in people and bears can cross using this strange boat with wheels which is called an amphicraft.
The St Aubyn Family have lived on St Michael’s Mount since the 17th Century, though in 1954, the 3rd Baron St Levan gave most of St Michael’s Mount to the National Trust though they kept a 999 year lease (which is a very long time) to live in the castle and manage public viewing of the historic rooms (source Wikipedia). National Trust members and their bears can visit for free as long as they show their membership cards….
As we climbed up to the castle I stopped to have a little rest then Karen pointed out to me that I was right next to The Giant’s Well. I didn’t stay there long.
I climbed up into a little window in a wall that I thought might make a good place to hide from giants.
Further on I came across some battlements with a row of cannons. After clambering up onto one I could see a lovely view of the sea. 
Just in front of the castle I paused to take a ‘selfie’.
It was a long tiring trek to the front door. 
I was rather hesistant entering as just inside the door there was a bear much bigger than me with very big teeth. 
The views from inside are amazing. I was jolly pleased that my human had put her coat in the bear carrier which turned it into a pillow to stand on.
In one of the rooms I spotted a rather grumpy looking dog.
On the roof terrace there was a very old thermometer which was a tad confusing to read as it was in Farenheit instead of Centigrade. In between freezing and temperate seemed about right though!
I peered over to have a look at the sea which seemed to make the humans a bit nervous.
The gardens looked splendid.
Back inside I noticed that the Queen had visited recently. 
Being a bear I am sometimes able to go places where humans cannot. I had a peak up this very old staircase, but at the top there was a piece of glass and I couldn’t go any further.
They are well prepared for any fires that might break out. These buckets were full of sand.
On returning to the outside we came across more battlements and smaller cannons. In the past these would have been used to defend the island.
All the climbing and walking around made me very hungry. I was very pleased to find a cafe. The Sail Loft make very yummy celeriac soup.
I was very keen to find the follies. Follies have a tendency to be of good size for bears. The first one I found was quite big though – The Eagle House.
I was jolly pleased to come across an adventure playground and stopped for while to play on the swing.
There was a little wicker house near the swing that the Queen sits in when she visits.
Nearby there was another folly. It took me a while to get up the steep steps to have a look inside.
I am fond of honey bees, so was very pleased to find some hives, and signs warning people to leave the bees alone. The bees were all asleep in the hive for winter.
Further along the path a magificent fairy tale castle was perched right up on top of an old tree stump. I wondered whether tiny bears might live there, but further inspection revealed that it had been carved out of the tree, so was solid inside. 
This little hut was just the right size for me. It is known as ‘The Hermitage’ and is a replica of the one that would have been there over 250 years ago.
I decided to spend a bit of time being thoughtful in The Hermitage.
There is a stream running through the garden with lots of ferns and mossy stones. I very much enjoy exploring such places, but the ground was very soggy and slippy making it difficult for me to remain standing (I was designed to sit) so I didn’t spend long there.
The plunge pool looked a bit cold and deep for bears. One of the nearby trees was wrapped in a blanket to protect it from frost.
I had a little paddle in the water that was feeding the plunge pool – wellies are jolly useful sometimes!
Here I am with another folly. It is rather splendid and makes me look very small.
The maze is a more recent addition to the rococo garden. I studied it for a while before entering it as did not wish to get stuck in there!
I peeped up over the hedge a few times and my humans managed to get a photo of me! 
Wet snow was starting to fall so I was very pleased indeed to come across this little house to shelter in.
Before we left I had one last look at the beautiful snowdrops.
I very much enjoyed visiting Painswick Rococo Garden – a good place for bears and their humans; I think young humans would probably like it too.
We walked around the rest of the gardens, though at this time of the year most plants are still asleep for winter. Here is a selfie of me with the Dove Cote behind me; you might be able to spot a dove peeping out of the window. 
The former owner of Snowshill Manor used to collect things, such as penny farthing bicycles. The Manor House was shut though (as the estate was only open for snowdrop viewing), so I will have to make sure the humans return in the summer in order to fully explore. All the benches that people sit on in summer were stored inside this barn. 
On the way back I climbed up onto a dry stone wall for a photo shoot. I am quite fascinated by the way snow sticks to some things and not to others. The snow seemed to like the wall. 
Another feature I enjoy are National Trust produce tables where plants and vegetables grown on the premises are offered for sale by a donation. I chose several pots of snowdrops to take home; I do hope they grow in my city garden.
On the way they stopped at a small town called Totnes for some lunch. Here I am in Totnes High Street. 
There are quite a few charity shops in Totnes; Karen always has to look in charity shops just in case there might be something there that could be useful (like a new dress). I followed her into the Cancer Research UK shop.
We noticed a familiar face sitting on a chair next to a heap of abandoned cuddly toys. He was sat staring into space and looked rather worried. I remembered how I felt when I spent a few days sat on a charity shop shelf. I said ‘Hello’ to him and he told me that he had been made in the Station Mill at Alresford and how sad he felt that his human had abandoned him to a charity shop. I asked if he’d like to come and live with some of his Alresford relatives.
Jesse had a £12 price label attached to his Alresford Crafts label, which seemed a small price to pay to rescue him. Karen took him to the shop counter to pay for him. The shop assistant wasn’t interested in our story but stood aside for us to take a photo. 
Once outside the shop Karen found a suitable bear carrier for Jesse.
It was then time to get something to eat. We went back down the hill to Maisie’s Cafe, a lovely little tearoom, where Karen treated us both to tea and cake.
I think Jesse is going to like living with us 🙂
Horace the Alresford Bear 