Hi all!
I'm Carol. I'm 36, with two children 10 and 6 and three step-children (10, 8 and 6). I live in East Sussex UK. I recently acquired a complete collection of Pooh stories and poems, and started reading them to my daughter. She became a firm fan from the first word, and now she sleeps in Pooh pyjamas, and cuddles my own old Pooh, bought for me by a friend for a birthday many years ago.
Yesterday, my husband and I and my children took ourselves off to Ashdown Forest to walk the Pooh trail. We were surprised by how similar the area is to the Shepard drawings in the book. We also found the ground very sandy. It was a warm but overcast day, which was quite useful later on when we got tired. We took a picnic, and parked our car at Gills Lap car park, and followed the fire ride down to the Enchanted Place. We counted the trees. There were 62 and a stump. Then we went to the Lone Pine, and the heffalump trap is still there. You can see the grass growing around the edges of what appears to be a trap door (honest!).
We visited the memorial to A.A.Milne and E.H.Shepard, which is near the sandpit where Roo played. This unfortunately was filled with stagnant smelly water.
After that, we crossed the road, and walked down to the North Pole and the stream where Roo learned to swim. Then on up the hill to the top, to look down to Eeyores sad and gloom place. My daughter was upset that we couldn't see Eeyores little wooden house. After an eternity, we made it back to the car.
A short drive down the road took us to Pooh car park, and we walked from there down a lovely path to the Pooh bridge. The path comes out on a road, and then you have to walk down a bridleway, past the horses in the field on the left to the bridge. There is a plaque by the bridge which informs the visitor that it was renovated in 1979. There wasn't much water flowing under the bridge, and the stream was *full* of sticks. We took our own sticks with us, which was just as well, we'd have had a bit of trouble finding any! Most of them were already in the water. We managed a few games of pooh-sticks before wending our weary way home.
I was amazed how many visitors there were. The car parks were full to overflowing and the visitors had come from as far away as Australia and Norway. We helped a family drag their car out of a ditch, and I inadvertently helped the family from Norway to get lost by sitting on the sign which pointed to Pooh bridge. I was able to help them find their way there afterwards however!
All in all, a memorable day was had by all, and my children happily drew pictures of the bridge when we returned home. I would recommend the trip to anyone visiting the area in the future.