Cotchford Farm and the surrounding area.

(Map from The Brilliant Career of Winnie-the-Pooh, p. 82)

Welcome to Cotchford Farm, near Hartfield in East Sussex, about an hour's drive from London. This is where A. A. Milne and his family came to vacation, and it's the area he used as the setting for his famous books, Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.

The famous Poohsticks Bridge is located near the village of Upper Hartfield. From Upper Hartfield, a path goes south through a wooded area, then alongside meadows lined with split-rail fences. You'll find the bridge in an area called Posingford Wood. If you intend to play a game of Poohsticks at the bridge, you'd better grab a stick along the way, because the area around the bridge is usually plucked bare.

Continuing along the path, you'd reach an intersection of two narrow roads. The right fork leads to Cotchford Farm, the left to Ashdown Forest. Within Ashdown Forest, you might find Piglet's beech tree, or Kanga and Roo's home at a sandy part of the forest near Gill's Lap, which many readers would recognize as Galleon's Lap, an "enchanted place" in the forest. East of Gill's Lap is the North Pole, discovered by Pooh, situated on privately owned land across a narrow, shallow stream. East of Cotchford Farm are the Six Pine Trees. A bit to the southeast of those is Owl's house, situated in the Five Hundred Acre Wood, known in the books as the Hundred Acre Wood.

North of Cotchford Farm is the center of Hartfield. An excellent place to stop is a tiny shop called Pooh Corner, also called Christopher Robin's Sweet Shop. Visitors can find Pooh-related gifts and books here, as well as purchase maps of the area and get directions to some of the spots. Visitors can also purchase the same types of candies that Christopher Robin would buy with his nanny.

If you're making a trip to the area, check the Ashdown Forest information center, one mile east of Wych Cross off the A22. Also try to purchase a map of the area, usually available in hiking shops and bookstores. If you're really searching for specific Pooh areas, take along a copy of Christopher Milne's The Enchanted Places, which is available in most bookstores in the area. (This book is not available in the U.S.)

For more information, contact British Tourist Authority, 551 Fifth Ave., Seventh Floor, New York, NY 10176.

This information was obtained from a newspaper article found in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, dated April 10, 1994. The article was entitled "Winnie-the-Pooh land nestles an hour's drive from London", and was written by Nancy Thompson of The Hartfield Courant.

Special thanks go to Donna Schwender, who provided me with this article. Thanks Donna!

Want another source on this area? Click here for additional information about this area.

Got some more information to pass along!! This information comes from Robin Symington, Secretary of East Sussex Tourist Attractions Association. She gave me the address of the Pooh Corner shop mentioned above. Contact:

Mike Ridley
Pooh Corner
High Street
Hartfield, East Sussex TN7 4AE
England

Telephone: 1892-770-453
Fax: 1892-770-872

Calling from the US? Make sure to prefix that phone and fax number with 011-44. That'll get you an international call, and the 44 is the country code for Great Britain.

For tourist information about the Ashdown Forest area, you can contact:

Deborah Jarrett
Tourism and Arts
Wealden District Council
Vicarage Lane
Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 2AX
England

Back to The Page at Pooh Corner.