A.A. Milne was already a successful London-born playwright, poet and novelist when he ventured back to Ashdown Forest, a world he had originally discovered from family visits during his own childhood. The serenity of these ancient woodlands and heath, the valleys and streams - yet less than 40 miles south of the Capital City, was worlds apart from the bustle and bright lights of London and also great therapy for Alan Milne (a WW1 veteran) during a time when the entire country was still recovering from the effects of the First World War.

His rediscovery of Ashdown had a profound and positive effect on Milne, to the extent that in 1925 he purchased Cotchford Farm, next to a babbling brook on the edge of the Forest. This was to become a country home for Alan and Daphne Milne and the young Christopher Robin; over the years the Milne family spent most weekends and long, dreamy summer holidays there, a respite from Milne’s busy life in London.

For the first time, A.A. Milne was able to spend significant and precious time with his now 5- year old son, and was inspired to write the children’s stories that were to become world classics. Pooh’s adventures originated in and around their new home, and Alan Milne wrote the narrative of the Pooh books from his desk or in the garden at Cotchford Farm. The old walnut tree with the great hollow where Christopher Robin played (a perfect fit for bears, and other friends!) inspire  the tree houses in the books. The Floody Place was close to the Medway River skirting the farm. And Eeyore’s Gloomy Place was the paddock meadow where Jessica, the family donkey, was pastured..

And so the adventures which Milne created and Christopher Robin enacted with his entourage of animal friends came to life….it was in these timeless tales that Christopher Robin’s Pooh, soon to be joined by Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga, and Roo became famous across the globe.