A Holiday Garden

The teddy bears love going on holiday. They usually stay in different local cottages so that they can enjoy the area as if they lived there.

This Summer they visited a lovely cottage on Anglesey. Scary was the only one who had visited before and he offered to show them round when they arrived. There was a big bedroom full of bunk beds where they could all sleep cosily together. There was a huge living room where they could play their favourite board games, or do large jigsaws, or simply sit on a comfy chair and read a good book - or have a crafty little snooze!

Before they went outside into the garden, Scary called them all together.

"You'll never believe this," he told them, "but this cottage has a really interesting garden, some might even say that it was "enchanted"! Let's go outside and find out!"

The other bears all ran outside as soon as Scary opened the door. The garden wasn't huge, but it did have lots of nooks and crannies to explore. The bears decided it was an ideal place to play their favourite game of hide and seek. So, whilst Charlie turned his back on them all and closed his eyes tight shut, the others all ran off to find places to hide.

"…. 18, 19, 20 - coming, ready or not!" he shouted, then opened his eyes and turned slowly around. At first, he thought the garden must really be enchanted because his friends seemed to have just vanished!

He slowly walked around, and then spotted Bertie trying to hide behind a hydrangea bush. Unfortunately, the hydrangea bush wasn't quite as big as Bertie so Charlie saw him and ran over to pat his arm and tell him he was caught.

Eventually, Charlie succeeded in finding all the bears, except James. "Now where could he be," thought Charlie as he started off a second sweep of the garden.

James had been hiding behind some very tall grasses near the cottage, and hiding very well! However, he wasn't the most patient bear so he was beginning to wonder where Charlie had got to, and poked his head out through the grass - and was instantly noticed by Charlie! He ran over and patted James' arm. "Found you - at last!" he laughed, "you certainly hid very well!"

Now that the game had finished, the bears showed each other what they had found whilst they were looking for somewhere to hide for their game. James pointed out some huge mushrooms.

"Gosh! Are they real?" asked Harry.

Bubbles patted them gently. "No," he laughed, "they're pottery! Or maybe they are just enchanted and used to be real! You would have a hard time eating them!"

Then Bertie took them over to a far corner and showed off his discovery. It was a sheep and a lamb - not real, of course!

"These must be enchanted too!" shouted Harry as he patted the model animals. Bertie jumped onto the back of the sheep. "Giddy-up!" he yelled, as if he was in the Wild West. Everyone applauded!

"Could someone help me climb up onto the lamb?" asked James, "Even for a lamb, he's very big!"

A couple of the bigger bears lifted James up and placed him on top of the lamb. Together, he and Bertie pretended they were on horse-back and galloping off together!

Then all the other bears took turns too, some having to have a helping paw to get up onto the pair of animals.

After a long time playing outside in the fresh air, there was a very tired band of bears. They gathered on the garden seats and some even nodded off!

All too soon Scary spoiled their peace and quiet. "Come on, you lot!" he shouted. The other bears put their paws over their ears or tutted and complained.

Scary knew how to stop that. "It's time for tea!" he continued, "If you come in now and fill up your plates you can bring them back out into the garden to eat - like a big picnic!"

Suddenly, there was a rapid rush to get into the kitchen. "Thanks, Scary!" the bears shouted. "That was a great way to wake us up! No more moaning from us! We're not a bit tired any more!"

They sat outside eating their meal as the evening light slowly stole across the garden. It was a peaceful - maybe even enchanting - end to their first day here.

They looked forward to several more days at this holiday cottage, and it was certainly put on their list for future visits!