Visit Pooh Corner in Hartfield. Image: Londonist
Through copse and spinney marched Bear; down open slopes of gorse and heather, over rocky beds of streams, up steep banks of sandstone into the heather again; and so at last, tired and hungry, to the Hundred Acre Wood.
So writes author AA Milne in Eeyore Loses A Tail, one of his many stories about Winnie the Pooh and friends. The landscape is instantly recognisable to anyone who knows the Ashdown Forest, the slice of East Sussex where Milne wrote and based the books. Almost a century since the publication of Winnie the Pooh's first adventures, the gorse- and heather-strewn landscape has barely changed, and many of Milne's landmarks remain, still recognisable as the homes of various woodland creatures.
Views over the Ashdown Forest in 'Pooh Country'. Image: Londonist
Known affectionately as 'Pooh Country' or 'Winnie the Pooh Forest', the Ashdown Forest draws visitors from all over the globe each year, all keen to follow in the footsteps of the world-famous bear.
