Tino’s Tales: Bursledon Bears

Join Tino and friends on their visit to a windmill, then try our fun Teddy Tales activity sheet!


‘Aa-aa-aa choo!’ The bears giggled as Bill sneezed into his red and green spotty handkerchief.

‘And that’s why we call it the dust floor!’ Gary the Miller joined in the laughter.

The tour had come to an end, and everyone thanked Gary for showing them how the windmill worked.

‘I can’t believe that a building that’s more than 200 years old can still turn this into this!’ Tilly pointed out the sacks of grain and then the bags of flour. ‘And all powered by the wind!’

Teddy Baby looked from the grain to the flour and back again. He ran the grain through his paws, then poked at the flour, which puffed out a small white dust cloud like that which had made Bill sneeze. Teddy Baby smiled and made another flour cloud, jumping in the white dust as it settled on the wooden floorboards.

“Come on Teddy Baby, we’re going to do the nature trail now,,,,”

‘Come on, Teddy Baby, we’re going to do the nature trail now,’ Roberta tugged the reluctant bear towards the windmill door and the sunshine outside.

The bears loved their annual summer holiday. This year they hadn’t gone too far from home, but were discovering so many new and fascinating things on the south coast, almost on their doorstep. Each bear took it in turns to suggest an idea for a day out, and while Bursledon Windmill had been Tilly’s choice, all of the bears had been enthralled by the giant machinery and sails.

‘I think the answer to this clue might be ‘rabbit,’’ suggested Rupert, tapping his pencil against his cheek thoughtfully. ‘What do you think, Teddy Baby?’

Rupert was answered by silence.

‘Teddy Baby?’

Rupert turned round. Teddy Baby had been right next to him on the nature trail, and now he’d vanished! Where on earth could he be?

Rupert alerted Roberta, Tino and Tilly to the missing bear, and the four friends set out to search for Teddy Baby.

‘He loved the flour in the windmill,’ remembered Roberta. ‘Let’s try in there.’

‘Look!’ cried Tino. ‘Flour prints!’

Sure enough, there was a faint trail of white paw prints heading towards the windmill door. The bears followed Teddy Baby’s trail into the mill but when they got inside they lost the paw print trail.

‘Gary, have you seen Teddy Baby? We’ve lost him,’ Tino asked the tour guide.

Gary pointed to the grinding stone. There was Teddy Baby, happily turning the handle and laughing in delight as the brown grain was ground down into the white powdery flour. A queue of children were patiently watching him and waiting their turn.

‘He’d make an excellent miller!’ laughed Gary. ‘Teddy Baby has ground a whole bag of flour – why don’t you take it home?’

And Teddy Baby’s flour baked into the best home-made bread the bears had ever tasted!


Teddy Tales: Teddy Windmill

Can you spot the 10 differences between the two pictures of Bursledon Windmill? You will need to look VERY carefully!

Click here for the Activity


Tino, Tilly, Roberta, Rupert, Lord Meight and all of Bill’s collection of 269 bears will soon be moving into a new home at Mr Simpson’s Teddy Bear Museum in Milestones Museum. Find out how we’re getting the bears ready for their move.

Tino's Tales was made by Mark Fenton, Ruth James, Caroline Johnson, Helen Sinnamon and Nick Suffolk


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Hampshire Cultural Trust

From museums to galleries to arts centres, we manage and support 24 attractions across the county, welcoming over 740,000 people each year. Our charitable purpose is changing lives through culture.
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