A.A. Milne’s Ashdown Forest Home Where He Wrote Winnie The Pooh Is Available To Rent

Come 14 October of this year, Winnie the Pooh will be turning the ripe old age of 100. Though nearly a centenarian, the honey-guzzling bear is just as charming as ever and continues to enchant children (and adults) the world-over with his bumbling demeanour and circle of woodland friends. And now author A.A Milne’s home where Pooh Bear was first dreamt up is available to rent. Take a look inside. 

Inside A.A. Milne’s Home

Purchased in 1924, Cotchford Farm in the Ashdown Forest served as a country retreat for playwright and author A.A. Milne alongside his wife and their son, the namesake of the fictional Christopher Robin: Christopher Robin Milne. 

According to the real-life Christopher, while he and his family lived in London ‘the four of us – [A.A. Milne], his wife, his son and his son’s nanny – would pile into a large blue, chauffeur-driven Fiat and travel down every Saturday morning and back again every Monday afternoon. And we would spend a whole glorious month there in the spring and two months in the summer.’ It was this woodland and the adventures that Milne and his son had there that set the stage for the classic children’s stories.

Though 500-acres in size, Ashdown Forest in East Sussex directly inspired the Hundred Acre Wood that Pooh and his pals call home. As Christopher wrote in his autobiography: ‘Pooh’s forest and Ashdown Forest are identical.’ Galleon’s Leap, for example, was inspired by the prominent hilltop of Gill’s Lap, while a clump of trees just north of Gill’s Lap became Christopher Robin’s ‘The Enchanted Place’, because no-one had ever been able to count whether there were 63 or 64 trees in the circle. Christopher noted that most of A.A. Milne’s visits to the forest at that time were ‘to make yet another attempt to count the pine trees on Gill’s Lap or to search for the marsh gentian’.

As such, the landscapes depicted in E. H. Shepard’s Winnie the Pooh illustrations were directly inspired by the landscape of Ashdown Forest, with many scenes matching almost exactly to actual views (allowing, of course, for some artistic licence). Alongside the landscape’s high, open heathlands of heather, gorse, bracken and silver birch, punctuated by hilltop clumps of pine trees, the games that A.A Milne and his son played there also inspired Pooh’s stories. Poohsticks, for example, was originally played by the pair on a wooden footbridge close to Cotchford Farm. When the footbridge had to be replaced in 1999, the architect copied the book’s drawings in his design.

As for Pooh himself, the lovable bear was directly inspired by a teddy that Milne had bought for his son in Harrods. Though Christopher had originally named the toy Edward, he late renamed it Winnie after a Canadian black bear he saw at London Zoo, while the name Pooh came from a friend’s pet swan that they had encountered while on holiday. Incorporating the rest of Christopher’s toys into the story – including Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, and Tigger – the world of Winnie The Pooh began to expand into the timeless tale. 

And it was in the sitting room of this very same Susex home that Milne first put these bedtime stories to paper. Bringing in illustrator E. H. Shepard – who based Pooh’s design on his own son’s toy bear Growler – Winnie the Pooh first appeared in London’s Evening News on Christmas Eve 1925, and was then followed by the first official Winnie the Pooh book published on October 14, 1926. 

Beyond the living room where the stories were penned, sits Christopher’s green bedroom where Milne first conjured the story of Pooh and his pals. With its fairytale feel, it’s no wonder this 16th century home inspired such a charming tale. Decked out with timber beams, leaded windows, wide oak floorboards and historic fireplaces, this Grade II listed country retreat extends to over 3,400 sqft arranged across three floors. Inside, the six-bedroom property features three reception rooms, an oak-panelled dining room, library/music room, family room and kitchen. Set within the Weald of Sussex National Landscape, the gardens consist of formal terraces, sweeping lawns, woodland walks and vibrant borders, while a heated outdoor swimming pool and tennis court provide ample opportunity for play. 

Available to rent for £9,995 pcm. Find out more at hamptons.co.uk