It’s time for our 2024 Christmas holiday at Bearsprings; we have all had a wonderful time reading winter stories, talking about seasonal changes and nocturnal animals, decorating our setting for Christmas and making our own paper embellishments to take home, before walking around our local community to enjoy the lights at this time of year. We wish all of our Bearsprings children and families a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to enjoying some quality family time. So, this raises an age old question for parents and families; how exactly can we have a balanced and relaxing Christmas break without compromising on the quality of our family time?

Autumn has begun and we are sure that your little ones are noticing the shortening daylight hours, many of you many have enjoyed some spooky fun already this month by dressing up in costumes or going outside to look for nocturnal wildlife. 2024 is a special year because tonight is Halloween and also punkie night.

Punkie night is an event specific to England and isn’t celebrated in other countries or cultures so it’s likely that many have never heard of it (unless you watched some of the early Worst Witch episodes from its first iteration during the early 2000s).

At Bearsprings we thought it would be interesting to learn about this special tradition. So, what exactly is punkie night and where does it come from?

Delilah the painted lady butterfly’s release was unsuccessful and she became Bearsprings’ very own house butterfly. Today is her birthday and the final release of our butterflies this year.

Welcome to Bearsprings. This post offers a snippet of what we have been up to at Bearsprings over the years, before our new website was ready.