Introduction The origin of Pooh Bear begins with a child called Christopher Robin Milne. His mother gave him the teddy bear on his first birthday. Together with his other nursery toys he played games and created make believe stories. His father was a successful writer and in 1925 when Christopher was 6 they moved from Chelsea, London to Hartfield, Sussex. Their new home was an old ‘Queen Anne’ Farmhouse built in the late 1690’s called Cotchford Farm and it was here that Christopher’s adventures really began. He played his games with his Nanny giving different roles to the toys he loved. The most important toy of all was his teddy bear – the one he had re-named Winnie-the-Pooh.

The Pooh Countryside
The landscape and settings for these adventures were naturally the places around their home. With his Nanny he ventured further afield and together they explored. These places included the ‘500 Acre Wood’ a large plantation with many mature beech trees and ‘Posingford Wood’ a mixed and ancient woodland -that they would reach by crossing, what became, The Poohsticks Bridge. Then, further on they entered the majestic Ashdown Forest one of England’s largest open spaces. Christopher’s adventures were shared with his Nanny and between them they told his mother. Mrs Milne would then retell them to his father when he returned at the weekend from his office in London. A.A.Milne wrote the stories down and once the publishers had chosen E.H.Shepard to draw the illustrations, he had them published.

Expotitions
With the illustrated guide booklet available from Pooh Corner, ‘Two Expotitions to The Enchanted Places’, you can reach the famous bridge as a ‘there and back again’ walk. The other Pooh Places are found in a circular walk that can be accomplished at a normal walking speed within an hour from the Gill’s lap car park on the top of the Forest.

The Pooh Places There are several particular places that Christopher identified in his autobiography, ‘The Enchanted Places’ published in 1973. Poohsticks Bridge is perhaps the best known and can easily be identified. Built in 1905 to enable wagons to transport timber from the Posingford Wood the wooden bridge has had two significant rebuilds – 1979 and 1999. The first involved replacing the main supports, the later replaced the upper elements faithfully following the original bridge design but incorporating metal nuts and bolts to comply with modern building regulations.
	Poohsticks Bridge
Galleon’s Lap You can visit ‘Galleon’s Lap’, a clump of mainly Scots pine trees, and a landmark from far around. The real name for this place is, ‘Gill’s lap Clump’ and for many years it was also called, ‘Camels Hump’ due to it’s resemblance to a seated camel.	The Heffalump Trap Nearby is a lone pine tree that has a large hole across the pathway (compelling the walker to walk around it) which is believed to have inspired the, ‘Heffalump Trap’
Roo’s Sandy Pit From there you retrace your steps and turning left at Gill’s Lap soon come to, ‘Roo’s Sandy Pit’. The real name for this place is, ‘The Old Quarry’ and as you can guess was where sandstone was cut to build local cottages and walls.
The Enchanted Place A little further on is a special place. This was chosen by Christopher Milne as a suitable spot to place a bronze plaque in memory of both his father, who wrote the original Pooh books and E.H.Shepard who drew the original illustrations. This was unveiled in 1979 to a small number of invited guests. Family of the author and the illustrator, a few friends, the Pooh Trustees, the Chairman of the Parish Council and Mike Ridley, owner of Pooh Corner.
Where the North Pole Was A little distant from the group of places at and around Gill’s Lap is, ‘Where the North Pole Was’. The visitor will need to cross the road and then, having walked parallel for a couple of hundred yards, walk downhill into the adjoining valley. A small stream trickles on its way to eventually join the river Medway and here and there on it’s route there are several small ponds formed by outbreaks of sandstone and tree roots. It was into one of these that Roo tumbled and where Pooh bravely saved him, with a little help, using a pole he had found lying an the ground. Christopher Robin, so the story goes, called this, ‘The North Pole’.