A Walk In The Woods

It has been so hot recently that the teddy bears thought it would be very nice to go for a walk through some cool and shady woodland. Their favourite woods are not far away in Alderley Edge in Cheshire. So they packed some sandwiches, some home-made biscuits and big bottles of lemon squash and set off.

They invited some of their pals to meet them there. They had to walk across some fields to reach the woods and were getting very hot out in the sunshine so it was such a relief to get under the trees. They stopped for a short break and ate some biscuits and had a drink.

Then it was time to explore! Boo found the sign to the Edge itself so they knew which way to go. They followed a track through some very tall trees, gazing up at their high branches. Note to selves - don't walk and look upwards at the same time!

Harry managed to stumble over a tree root and fall to the ground. Luckily, he fell into a deep pile of old leaves so he wasn't really hurt, but they all agreed to keep their eyes on where they were going, and to stop if they wanted to look upwards.

Bubbles had brought a book about trees with him and he could tell the other bears the names of those they passed.

There were huge oak trees with thick, gnarled trunks, slender birch trees with very thin, pale trunks, and graceful beech trees with beautiful green leaves. The sun shone through the branches leaving the woodland floor dappled with light and shade. They could hear birds singing, and saw the occasional squirrel!

They came across a tree which had fallen down, leaving just a stump in the ground. James asked the rest of the bears if they knew how to tell the age of the tree but no-one knew the answer. James explained that if you counted the number of rings on the tree stump, that would be the age of the tree in years.

So they tried it on their tree stump, and counted 40 rings. So the tree must have been 40 years' old when it fell. How very interesting! Clever James!

They found some other fallen trees nearby, one of which had been made into a sort of bench. Oscar and Boo chose to sit on that one, and the rest of the bears spread around whilst they had their picnic lunch. That was yummy!!

They drank lots of lemon squash because it had been very hot walking, even in the shade of the trees. They all had a lovely time on their walk in the woods but all too soon it was time to go home. They'll be sure to visit again soon though.

You could visit your local wood and go for a walk too, and try to work out which trees you see - perhaps you could take a book like Bubbles did. If there are any fallen trees, you now know how to work out how old they are! See if you can find one older than the one the bears found and let them know in their Feedback Form. Take a picnic and make it an exciting day out!!