Snugburys Ice Cream unveils huge Paddington Bear sculpture

The beloved character has journeyed from darkest Peru to the Cheshire countryside.

Standing at 45-foot-tall and weighing five tonnes, the larger-than-life bear can now be found at Snugburys Ice Cream.

He is the Snugburys’ latest sculpture, with the farm having previously created straw incarnations of Big Ben and Peter Rabbit, among many others.

Kitty Hill, director of Snugburys, said: “It’s a true labour of love making our straw sculptures, we have been making them for more than 20 years and every time we try and pick something that we hope our customers and the general public will enjoy.

“We think Paddington is such a wonderful characterful little bear.”

The Paddington Bear sculpture at Snugburys (Image: Supplied)

Kitty and her sisters, Hannah Goodwin and Cleo Spencer, came up with the idea to create Paddington after watching the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, during which Paddington shared tea with Her Majesty.

Mike Harper, from Harbrook Engineering, created Paddington’s framework before the team from Snugburys got busy stuffing him with straw.

Sarah Gallgher-Hayes, from Twigtwisters, then applied the finishing touches, willow weaving features such as his hat and suitcase.

Overall, the project took more than 1,500 hours.

Every time Snugburys unveil a new sculpture they pick a charity to support and this year is the turn of the MPS Society.

The charity was chosen after a family friend’s little boy, Freddie, was diagnosed with MPS syndrome, also known as childhood dementia.

Kitty said: “We really hope we can raise as much as we can for the MPS society with our straw Bear.”

A MPS Society spokesperson added: “We absolutely love Paddington!

“Thank you so much for choosing to support the MPS Society this year.

“We feel very honoured and I am sure Freddie and his family do too!

“Huge thank you to everyone at Snugburys Ice Cream and a special thank you to an absolutely amazing Paddington!”