Sunday, April 08, 2007
7th April Ashdown Forest and Hartfield Part 1
I love Ashdown Forest for its ability to look wild and untamed and I also love the Winnie the Pooh books.
The creator of Winnie the Pooh, A A Milne, lived in Ashdown Forest with his young son Christopher Robin and the stories are set in the forest. I have never become very expert about all the special places frequented by Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore etc.
Yesterday we went to one of the most important, known in the books as Galleon's Lap and in real life as Gill's Lap. In the 1920s, when the books were written, Gill's Lap was a circular clump of spindly pines. They are now much bigger and form a little wood.
It was also known as The Enchanted Place and was the place where Christopher Robin finally said Goodbye to Winnie the Pooh.
Yesterday we were much amused when were accosted on the path by a very posh sounding, well spoken couple...."Are we on the right path for The Enchanted Place?" she suddenly demanded.
The early flowering gorse lit up the landscape with a sunny yellow.
Cultivated daffodils get everywhere these days.
There are lots of straggly pines dotted on the scrubby land. The times of this forest being covered with trees have long gone - most were taken to fire the furnaces in the medieval iron smelting business.
Here we are at Gill's Lap.
This plaque is in a quiet spot with commanding views across the High Weald.
I like our traditional wooden sign posts.
The creator of Winnie the Pooh, A A Milne, lived in Ashdown Forest with his young son Christopher Robin and the stories are set in the forest. I have never become very expert about all the special places frequented by Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore etc.
Yesterday we went to one of the most important, known in the books as Galleon's Lap and in real life as Gill's Lap. In the 1920s, when the books were written, Gill's Lap was a circular clump of spindly pines. They are now much bigger and form a little wood.
It was also known as The Enchanted Place and was the place where Christopher Robin finally said Goodbye to Winnie the Pooh.
Yesterday we were much amused when were accosted on the path by a very posh sounding, well spoken couple...."Are we on the right path for The Enchanted Place?" she suddenly demanded.
The early flowering gorse lit up the landscape with a sunny yellow.
Cultivated daffodils get everywhere these days.
There are lots of straggly pines dotted on the scrubby land. The times of this forest being covered with trees have long gone - most were taken to fire the furnaces in the medieval iron smelting business.
Here we are at Gill's Lap.
This plaque is in a quiet spot with commanding views across the High Weald.
This picture is almost monochrome and shows how untamed is the landscape
I like our traditional wooden sign posts.
It had felt quite chilly walking out on the high open ground and this little image from a web site shows how my mind was working.
The link from The Enchanted Place to the Pooh Corner tea shop was enticing and we drove down to Hartfield to explore the village.
This will appear in Part 2 of our day out.
