The Paddington Trail

At the end of last year, fifty statues of Paddington the Bear appeared across London. Paddington Bear is a book by Michael Bond about a Peruvian bear who ends up in Paddington station in London with a note "Please look after this bear" tied around him. A film adaption (simply known as Paddington) has been in cinemas since the end of November, and this sculpture trail consists of several painted Paddington Bear sculptures to celebrate the film. Many of the bears are designed by British celebrities and other celebrities that had some influence in the film, such as Hugh Bonneville, Peter Capaldi, Nicole Kidman, David Beckham, and Emma Watson. The bear sculptures will be auctioned for children's charity NSPCC at the beginning of January.

Hugh Bonneville - The Journey of Marmalade

The Paddington Bear sculptures were on the streets from the beginning of November until the end of December, so they have sadly all gone now. They were spread across London, so I sadly did not get to see all of them due to them being scattered about the city and for the fact that the past two months have been busy with the Christmas season, holidays, and shorter hours of daylight. I saw all apart from five of the sculptures, so I did not do too badly considering one was far out as Heathrow.

Peru - Wonders of the World

Nicole Kidman - Blush

David Beckham - Golden Paws

Michael Sheen - Shakesbear

Ripley's Believe it or Not! - Paddington the Explorer

Matthew Williamson - Thread Bear

Ryan McElhinney - Fragile

Rankin - Bear in the Wood

Bears by Boris Johnson, Darcey Bussell, Emma Watson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ben Whishaw, Marc Quinn, Benedict Cumberbatch, Frankie Bridge

Zaha Hadid - R; G; B

Michael Howells - Good Morning London

Julie Walters - Primrose Paddington

Taylor Wimpey - Bearing Up

Canterbury of New Zealand - Paws Engage

Robin Partington & Partners - Brick Bear

Jonathan Ross - Futuristic Robot Bear

Lulu Guinness - Love Paddington x

Costain Skanska and the Paddington Partnership - The Mayor of Paddington

Davina McCall - Paddington Jack

Guy Ritchie - Dapper Bear

The Telegraph - Good News Bear

Bears by Benjamin Shine, Peru, Stephen Fry, Westminster Academy

Some of the bears were orgnaised into a trail. Although not all of the bears could be seen this way, this was a good way to see some of the bears. The trails included:

• Royal Parks: This went through Hyde Park and up through to Westminster but only contained six bears over a long walking distance. 
• Paddington Trail: This trail went around the Paddington and Little Venice area of London and consisted of several bears in a small area.
• River and Historical London: This trail contains approximately eight bears centrered around the London Bridge area of the Thames
• The Christmas Trail: This trail contained several of the sculptures around west London to allow visitors to combine this trail with seeing with Christmas lights.

Did you see any of the bear sculptures in the Paddington Bear Trail? I could not pick a favourite sculpture as all of them were completely different and there were so many good designs. The Paddington Trail map and information about the bears can be seen here: http://www.visitlondon.com/paddington/trail-map