Painshill Park was targeted last week when thieves stole a designer bag from a car outside the award-winning Grade I listed 18th-century landscape garden.
The bag, which belonged to Rachel Tiplady, contained various items including an Eden Toys pastel terry-cloth clown bear, which held great emotional sentiment.
Tiplady was visiting the gardens with her young son and discovered the theft on her return to the car. She said: “I don’t care about the bag, or any of its other contents; I only care about the teddy bear, as it means everything to our family.
“My late father gave it to me before I was born and hoped that one day my son would have it too.
“Sadly, he never got the chance to meet his grandson, as he passed away last year, just two months before he was born.
“The bear is one of the few tangible links between them, which makes its sentimental value impossible to replace.”
Cobham has an overall significantly lower crime rate than both the regional and national averages according to the crime statistics.
It is widely regarded as a safe, affluent, and sought-after place to live, so incidents of this nature are relatively rare.
However, a local resident commented that stealing from cars in the car park at Painshill was a regular occurrence because there is no CCTV.
Tiplady added: “I only hope that whoever has the bear can see how much it means to our family.
“I hope they have a heart and may choose to return something that cannot ever be replaced and we would be so grateful to anyone who finds the bear and could help bring it home.”
Surrey Police, said: "We monitor all reports of burglaries and thefts from vehicles in Cobham and the surrounding area, our current data does not indicate a significant increase in these offences or indicate an emerging trend.
"We understand that any incident of this nature is concerning for those affected, and we continue to encourage anyone who experiences or witnesses a crime, to report it so that we can investigate and build the most accurate picture of local crime patterns."
Tamsin Williams, a representative from Painshill Park, said: "We were sorry to learn that a visitor’s handbag was recently stolen when her car was broken into whilst parked in our car park.
"We sincerely hope that Rachel’s bear and bag are returned. We take the safety and security of our visitors very seriously, and incidents of this nature are extremely rare at our site.
"We have welcomed more than one million visitors to Painshill over the past five years and this is only the second vehicle break-in that has been brought to our attention.”
If you have any information about the teddy bear, please contact PainshillBear@gmail.com
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