Autumn colours and fun in the woods!

Bev regularly checks the weather forecast, so she knew that Sunday was going to be our one-day Indian Summer.  As the early morning mist gave way to sunshine and brilliant blue skies, we loaded up the car with the camera gear, the scope, a scrummy picnic and set off to sunny Wrest Park in Bedfordshire.

This was a perfect day out for us bears - Bill, Phoebe and myself found lots of apples and berries in the woods, and then it was time for a quick snooze before spending the rest of the afternoon chasing each other (and some tourists) through the woods :-) 

Our pets, Paul and Bev, also had a picnic in the woods, then spent their time photographing the autumn colours and watching birds through the scope. 

On our last visit in the spring, the swans had 9 tiny cygnets, and Bev was keen to find out if they had all survived the summer.  However, they were nowhere to be seen!  But when we visited the Summer Pavillion later in the afternoon, we found the swans with all 9 cygnets!  Yipee!  But we bears were under strict orders not to snaffle any of them for a quick snackette or we would be in BIG trouble and get smacked bottoms!

So, here are some of the hundreds of photographs Bev took on Sunday:

This is a photograph of the swans, cygnets and the house at Wrest Park.

And this is a photograph of the view along one of the canals that border the park.

And this is a photograph taken beside the Chinese Pavillion, looking towards the bridge:

Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire - bliss!

We knew that today was going to be a scorcher, so where better to have a teddy bears' picnic and keep the humans occupied that Wrest Park at Silsoe in Bedfordshire.  This is where we went last September on another beautiful day, but when we got there, Bev suddenly announced that she had forgotten her camera!  Doh!

Not so today - the humans were armed to the teeth with gadgets, including 2 digital cameras, 5 lenses, 2 tripods and a scope!  Which was a good thing, as the weather was glorious and there was lots to photograph, including a couple of swans with 9 incredibly cute cygnets!  The park is run by English Heritage and consists of a main house, a croquet lawn, a river, extensive gardens with a lake, several houses including one built in the style of the Pantheon in Rome, and the most amazing collection of trees!  The gardens are mostly grass with huge trees - oak trees, redwoods, monkey puzzle trees, beech, cedar, etc - and statues, which means on a day like today there was plenty of shade to keep us all cool and lots to look at. 

We had our teddy bears' picnic by the river, in the shade of a massive beech tree where we saw dragonflies, coots and moorhens.

So, here are some of our photographs:

The summer house built in the style of the Pantheon.

A dragonfly, photographed by Paul.

And a gang of cygnets - 9 in total!  Normally under the watchful eye of their parents, the gang managed to make a break for it but were rounded up before they ended up as lunch for some hungry bears!

Picnic, Wrest Park (Silsoe) and croquet

Well, we did have another picnic, this time time at Wrest Park in Silsoe, sitting on the beautifully manicured lawns watching people playing croquet - not that we understood the rules or what was happening, and we bears quickly got bored despite one of the players waving his mallet around to attract the attention of the umpire!  

Wrest Park is beautiful but there was good and bad news - the good news was that the weather was sunny and warm, but the bad news was that someone forgot to bring a camera!  Anyway, Paul and Bev wandered round the park, enjoying the views of the house, artificial lake and summer house in the style of the Pantheon in Rome - what stunning scenery and architecture!

We bears and Tony the Chimp had great fun in the secluded wooded areas, chasing each other or jumping out on unsuspecting tourists and hiding again before they realised what had happened :-)  Lots of fun was had by all and we will definitely be back BUT WITH A CAMERA THIS TIME!  Call yourself organised, you silly woman - how could you forget a camera on such a beautiful day and in such a glorious location!  Doh!