A day spent searching for Winnie the Pooh on Ashdown Forest in East Sussex is a day well spent. You don’t need little ones to enjoy the adventure, although it’s a great family day out and a fun and low budget option for the school holidays.
For those that don’t know, AA Milne who wrote the Winne the Pooh books, moved to Cotchford Farm, near Hartfield in 1925, and many of the famous bear’s adventures were set on the forest. You can visit Pooh Sticks Bridge, Pooh Corner, Galleon’s Leap, the Enchanted Place, the site of the Heffalump Trap, Pooh, Piglet and Owl’s houses, the Gloomy Place, the sandpit and more. You also have a choice of long or short walks.
Planning your Winnie the Pooh search
You have a number of options as you set off in search of Winnie the Pooh on Ashdown Forest:
- From Hartfield to Pooh Sticks Bridge. Hartfield is the home of Pooh Corner. There is a 10 km circular walk from the village via sections of the High Weald Landscape Trail and the Wealdway. This route will also take you past Pooh’s house, Owl’s house, Piglet’s house, and via 100 Acre Wood.
- For a much shorter walk from Hartfield, there’s a “there and back” route which is just 2 km each way. There’s some road walking required and it’s not the best route as it only takes you to Pooh Sticks Bridge and back.
- You can park at Chuck Hatch car park (AKA Pooh car park) just off the B2026 and south of Hartfield. From here, it’s less than 1 km to Pooh Sticks Bridge and you’ll pass Pooh, Piglet and Owl’s Houses. This is an out and back walk, and you don’t need a map as it’s well signed but bear in mind, the walk back to the car park is all up hill. The path is a well made track and not too muddy.
- You can park at Gills Lap car park, off the B2026 and further south from Chuck Hatch. From here you can walk all the way to Pooh Sticks Bridge taking in the Enchanted Place, the Heffalump Trap, the AA Milne Memorial and Roo’s sandpit. From there, you walk on to Pooh, Piglet and Owl’s houses and the bridge. It’s 3 km each way. There is parking closer to the Memorial but it was shut at the time of writing.
- Finally, you can do a longer route from Gills Lap, which takes in Eeyore’s Gloomy Place and the North Pole. This is a 7.5 km walk, although allow a little extra. As per the map below, you do a loop to the east of the road before joining the main route from Gills Lap to Pooh Sticks Bridge.
You will need Ordnance Survey Explorer 135. There is a map at the Gills Lap car park on an information board but I would also recommend you buy a map of the recommended short and long walks from the Ashdown Forest website. It’s only 50p and it’s very easy to get lost on the forest, and quite hard to work out where some of the landmarks are. Cotchford Farm is a private house now and they do ask that you respect their privacy. They have very occasionally opened their gardens to the public, but it’s not a place to visit on your Pooh adventures.
You also need to bear in mind that you have to pay for parking on the forest.
Let the adventure begin
Pooh Sticks Bridge
As you walk from Pooh car park to the bridge, remember to look up and down. In the woods to the side of the path, you’ll find Owl’s house up in the trees, Piglet’s house down on the ground, Pooh’s house and the occasional jar of “huny”.
When you get to the bridge, don’t forget to play Pooh Sticks, by throwing sticks off one side of the bridge and seeing whose stick comes through the other side first!
The Enchanted Place
“…an enchanted place on the very top of the Forest called Galleons Lap, which is sixty-something trees in a circle; and Christopher Robin knew that it was enchanted because nobody had ever been able to count whether it was sixty-three or sixty-four”
A short walk from the Gills Lap car park, the Gills Lap Clump is what was called Galleons Leap in the books and here you’ll find a clump of trees (and a trig point). This is the Enchanted Place.
There are also fabulous views of Ashdown Forest. There’s a lone tree just north west of the main cluster of the Enchanted Place which is where Pooh and friends set the Heffalump trap, but it’s not easy to work out which one it is.
AA Milne’s Memorial
A little further north, and you’ll see the AA Milne memorial. It has gorgeous views and a seating area, so bring a picnic and take a seat.
It’s also close to the Roo’s sandpit – not a thing of great beauty but easy to spot.
The Gloomy Place and the North Pole
These are both on the east (other) side of the B2026 and on the edge of 100 Acre Wood. As you descend to the river from (in a straight line approximately opposite the sandpit), you come to a bridge … welcome to the North Pole. Although if you know your Pooh, you’ll know that the North Pole turned out to be a long stick Pooh used to save Roo.
As you walk up the other side of the river and loop around to your right, Eeyore’s Gloomy Place is in the valley to your right. I walked this walk on a very cold wet day, and the Gloomy Place was definitely gloomy. But, on a spring day with the bluebells out or with a summer sun, it is gorgeous! Top tip. I did this walk the other way around starting from the Gills Lap car park as recommended from the sign in the car park. I got lost, and then stuck in a bog. I tried it again from the sandpit and had more success!
Finish at Pooh Corner in Hartfield
Pooh Corner is a Winnie the Pooh museum, gift shop and café, and is well worth a visit for any die-hard Pooh fans. The museum is packed with Pooh memorabilia, and although the building itself dates back to 1703, it’s been Pooh Corner since 1978!
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