Thank you to everyone who answered my previous question, but it's definitely not Wind in the Willows, any of Brian Jacques Redwall series, Tarka the Otter or Animals of Farthing Wood.
The book was a large, hardbacked illustrated book, with a front cover illustration of a smiling otter looking out of a ships porthole.
Chunk of story I remembered last night: large otter who cannot swim decides to take a large boat out onto a river, and is followed by a frog on a bike. The frog sneak himself and his bike on board, which he subsequently falls over, and manages to blame his fall on others and gets to stay on the boat. At some point a younger otter is introduced to the story. They encounter a large storm which they survive, and deal with the storm aftermath and it's effects on the surrounding community of animals. Big otter learns to swim. Warm, fuzzy, feel-good book all round.
Thanks in advance everyone x
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