100 Acre Wood

The enchanted spots where Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin found adventure are tucked away in Ashdown Forest near Hartfield, England, about two hours from our house in Mildenhall. Poohsticks Bridge, Roo's Sandpit, Gills Lap, and the North Pole, can all be found in Ashdown Forest (the 100 Acre Wood). It was there, at Cotchford Farm in Hartfield, that A.A. Milne's son (Christopher Robin Milne) and his stuffed animals became models for the characters in the Winnie the Pooh stories.

Poohsticks bridge 

The original bridge was built in 1907 to carry horses and carts. The famous bridge is visited by many Pooh fans every year, which caused a lot of wear and tear on the old bridge.  In 1979 it underwent some much needed restoration work. The bridges' popularity has never waned and in 1999, the restoration work had to be repeated at a cost of 46,000 pounds ($85,000) with the help of a 15,000 pound donation from Walt Disney. Poohsticks bridge was reopened in January 2000, to a whole new millennium of Pooh visitors.

What's a visit to Poohsticks Bridge without a game of Poohsticks?

In 1979 a bronze plaque was set into a rock in an obscure pathway near the summit of Gills Lap, the highest point of Ashdown Forest which overlooks all the Pooh places. Known as the "Enchanted Place", this plaque commemorates the creation of Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard. There are deliberately no signs to show the way, as it was felt that in keeping with the spirit of the books, the memorial should be informal and inconspicuous. Gills Lap (Galleon's Lap) is also the spot where Christopher Robin and Pooh went in the last chapter of 'The House at Pooh Corner', when they both knew their lives were about to change as Christopher got older.