Although this page may seem a little frivolous for a History Group, there is no doubt that AA Milne and his small set of stories, written for his son Christopher Robin, are almost certainly the most famous subject, on a world-wide stage, of anything related to Hartfield. Why else would coach loads of school children from Japan come to the ‘home of Winnie the Pooh’ and of course all the Ashdown Forest locations have gained their own fame, albeit with slightly different names.
‘Pooh Corner’ near the end of the village is a popular visitor attraction and with its enthusiastic owner, Neil Reed, has collected the history of Christopher Robin and A.A.Milne and his stories by developing possibly the only museum in the world – known as the ‘Pooh-seum’ – to specialise in their life and times.
In addition to all the Pooh related shopping and the Pooh-seum, the tea room serves delicious meals often with themed crockery and even teapots!
You can read all about Pooh Corner on the website https://www.poohcorner.co.uk
Talks given to the History Group in the Village Hall on this subject are always well attended and, although it may be modern history it is without doubt ‘history’ and will, hopefully, attract some to this site who might not otherwise visit.The October 2014 meeting of the History Group enjoyed a talk by Gilly Halcrow entitled ‘Whatever happened to Christopher Robin” You may wish to read the September 2014 meeting report to add to the story. Several of Gilly’s photos and postcards from Sheila Fenton are shown below.
Winnie The Pooh and Ashdown Forest are inextricably linked as illustrated here on one of the many signs on the Forest – this one at Gills Lap – (Galleons Lap for Christopher Robin).
In May 2022 the owner of Cotchford Farm held an open day allowing a large number of people to see this famous location with many original artefacts and enlarged photos from the days of AA Milne suitably placed!
Pooh Bridge
