The stories of Winnie-the-Pooh, the bumbling “Bear of Very Little Brain” and his woodland friends have sparked childhood imaginations ever since they were written by A.A. Milne in 1926. Milne lived at Cotchford Farm in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, and based his stories on the adventures of his own son, Christopher Robin, who spent his childhood exploring this dream-tinged land, always accompanied by his trusted teddy bear.
A lifelong Pooh fan, I was keen to visit the locations that had inspired the stories, but with landmarks as whimsical as ‘The Enchanted Place’ and ‘Pooh’s Thoughtful Spot’, I was going to need some pointers. I took a morning tour of the forest with Gerry Manser, head guide of local company Pooh Trek. Gerry grew up with the Pooh stories and read them to his own children. He has explored every corner of Ashdown Forest’s 6,500 acres (somewhat larger than Pooh’s ‘100 Aker Wood’), taking small groups of ‘Poohthusiasts’ like myself to discover the real-life places that inspired Milne’s timeless tales.
First stop on our Pooh pilgrimage is Gill’s Lap (Galleon’s Leap in the books),
