Since the days before hubby and I were even BF and I, back when we were casual acquaintances playing wingman to my sister and her future hubby, he had one peculiar thing on his bucket list:
To play Pooh Sticks on the actual Pooh Sticks bridge.
I was not a Winnie the Pooh kid. I liked the cartoons enough, viewing myself, like most in their late-teens-breaching-on-twenties, as a bit of an Eeyore, but had never read the books. Well. That would not do. So as we moved from acquaintance to BF and GF, hubby read them to me. He insisted that they were books best read to you, and so, we worked our way through not just the books, but all of A. A. Milnes children's poetry too.
I begrudgingly accepted that I was not an Eeyore, but really, I was most definitely Rabbit. He was, and still is, a Pooh bear. Able to see good in every awful situation, and always with a random hum to hand.
So it seemed fitting, as we moved from BF and GF to something more official, that we would include that bear of little brain there too, and had an extract from House at Pooh Corner read on our wedding day. If you think hard, you can probably guess which part.
So I think it's clear to see that we are quite personally attached to that little rag tag collection of stuffed animals, which is why, having learned our lesson from losing two years of our lives, we chose to make East Sussex, home of the 100 Aker woods and the all important Pooh Sticks Bridge our next big holiday.
The plans for our Expotition were rather simple: stay near Hartfield and wing it from there. We had two goals: the Pooh Sticks Bridge and Pooh Corner.
A lot of people were confused that we would go so far to somewhere without much to do, but in the end, we ran out of time to do all the things we had discovered close by.
We broke the journey up and down with a break in Manchester and staying at my sisters (a huge thank you again!). We arrived a little early for check in and so investigated some of the nearby walks in the Ashdown Forest. The land is primarily heathland, which is protected in its own right, and it goes on and on for as far as the eye can see. The landscape is a rolling sort, very different to our Scottish hills and peaks back home. Thankfully, heathland is also the kind of place Missys like best. We spent two hours rambling about, keeping an eye on the distant Friendship Clump so as not to get lost, and simply marvelled at out good fortune. March is a dangerous time for holidays, and we had packed jumpers and coats, fleeces and hot water bottles, and here it was, bright and sunny and warmer than a Scottish Summer day. That perfect rose tinted summer of youth, warm and pleasant but not hot and sticky - which was ideal as I always worry about Missy in hot weather!
Perhaps I am a little like Kanga in my old age.
Tuesday was the day. We had on our Big Boots, which are required for an Adventure to happen. We had packed our teddies: Pooh, Piglet and my very sad and well travelled Eeyore, and set off on the Winnie the Pooh Walk. We saw the enchanted place, and lost count of the trees, found the heffalump pit and Eeyores Gloomy Place. Photos were taken at the North Pole and lastly, the 100 Aker woods.
Piglet had a bit of an adventure himself, sneaking out of my bag. We realised he was missing and retreated back to the 100 Aker woods, where someone had kindly placed him atop a fence post. A heart stopping moment, but really, it fitted in perfectly with the theme of the day.
Next was Pooh Corner. This fabulous teashop and "Pooh-seum" used to be the old sweet shop Christopher Robin visited. The website said dogs outside only, which we were quite happy to do, only to be told when we arrived that it was the discretion of the staff - being clean and we'll behaved, Missy was more than welcome inside. We did sit out for lunch and marvelled at the adorable teapots and crockery before I simply sat back and watched my husband become completely overwhelmed in the museum.
Then came the moment. The Pooh Sticks Bridge. We walked from Pooh Corner (they kindly gave us a map) and found our way safely to the bridge. There was almost a sense of a pilgrimage as sticks were gathered and we dropped them into the water, as Eeyore describes, in a twitchy kind of way.
I had always been under the impression that those from the South weren't the sort to chat (having "Northerners" as in laws is to blame for that impression), but that was not the experience we had on our trip at all. As we hunted down Poohs house (and Piglets and Owls), a passer by filled us in on what it was like to live by the bridge and told us all about the little houses and the area.
Truly, a wonderful day.
Wednesday was a "let's see what else there is" kinda day. I had scoped out a dozen options for the key part of the day before we settled on Battle Abbey. Firstly, it was the most dog friendly option, and secondly, it would be rude not to learn some English history. It was another beautiful day and, opting for the tour which was fascinating (so much so it overran the 1 hour it was meant to be and lasted two), we spent far longer than we expected. Really, we could have spent the whole day there, but I had done a Rabbit and organised a list to get through.
Camber Sands was the next stop (we were out with the bathing season, so no restrictions). We had originally planned to do Rye first, but had overrun at Battle Abbey, so decided to do the walk first. It's a huge beach, some 5 miles in length (don't worry, we didn't walk all of it), and Missy preferred the sand dunes to the water. Still, it was beautiful and she had the chance to run and shake off the cobwebs from her history lessons. We shared a fish and chips between the three of us before setting off to Rye.
I was excited to see Rye as its a medieval town with one of the most photographed streets in the UK (Mermaid Street). We arrived, found a great wee petshop and then as we left, realised everywhere had shut. Unperturbed, we found Mermaid Street to find it....closed off with a giant JCB on the middle. Hubby just laughed, it would make a good story to tell, really, and I should take a photo of the JCB instead. I did, then found another street of medieval buildings and got Missys photo there. It wasn't a wasted trip, it was nice to look about at the oddly named buildings (such as "the house with two front doors" and "the house with the seat") before we found a dog friendly pub for our dinner.
I had come up with all sorts of ideas for Thursday and then Hubby suggested that, since we had come so far for the purposes of seeing the world of Winnie the Pooh, that we should revisit it all again. I couldn't fault the logic and happily agreed, so long as we got to see the Sheffield Park and Gardens which was only 15 minutes away. I'm always a bit wary of repeating a day exactly!
Missy had woken up rather stiff that morning. At 9, whilst she would like to go all day, she doesn't know her own limits anymore and had clearly overdone things chasing Rabbits friends and Relations at the beach the day previous. I scrapped her morning walk to just a bathroom break and insisted on a quiet morning until the Gardens opened at 10. It was oddly charming sitting in the sun, hearing birds sing as we listened to the first Winnie the Pooh book.
Missy was raring to go come 10am. Her long morning sleep had re-energised her and she happily hopped into the car. The Sheffield Park and Gardens are like a Botanic Garden - lots of beautifully organised trees and plants. There were bridges and ponds and trees you could barely make out the top of, they were so large. Its short leads only for dogs going about the Garden, which suited us well as I had decided we were going to keep Missys walks to a minimum for the day.
Hubby had tried to book us an afternoon tea at Pooh Corner, but sadly they needed 48 hours notice for that, so we decided we would have a normal lunch there instead. He also wanted to eat inside this time and, even though the sun was shining and it was glorious, I agreed to humour him and sit indoors. I am so glad we did. At first I thought our luck had finally begun to fail as we were relegated to the smaller side room owing to all the folk having their afternoon teas being in the main room. We were recognised by the staff (as the couple who had brought their teddies with them and the really calm dog) and they chatted away with us, clearly realising that we were just happy to be there.
Then the owner got chatting to us. At first it was polite chatter. Then it was long stories about how we'd fallen in love with Winnie the Pooh. Then it was discussing Disney. We learned that they were putting together an exhibition about AA Milnes and Christopher Milnes military service and from there we just kept chatting. One thing led to another and we found ourselves getting to hold an original alpha bear in the collection - a vintage teddy the same type and age as the original Winnie the Pooh.
I was impressed that Hubby didn't start crying from happiness on the spot.
After that, I felt we'd had enough excitement for the day and insisted we save the main Winnie the Pooh walk for the Friday morning before going home, and that we just walk Missy to the Pooh Sticks Bridge and back again.
Quite the perfect way to end the day.
Friday rolled round too quickly. We packed the car, said goodbye to the barn we'd been staying at, and went once more to Gills Lap (or Galleons Leap, as it is referred to in the books). Our aim, having just relistened to the book, was to look at the lone pine more closely before having a proper explore in the 100 Aker woods. We did try to find Owl, who lives there, but sadly couldn't. Missy did find some more of Rabbits friends and Relations, but thankfully they came to no harm.
And then we were on our way to Manchester again, to good company and good food, and a long promised walk at the Quarry Bank Mill, before the last leg home.
Its been a the kind of holiday which was exactly what we needed. Warm, almost summer, weather. Stunning scenery and dog walks. A relaxed pace - we'll get there when we get there. And a very large dose of whimsy.
And tea rooms. Is it really an adventure without tea and cake?
This has rambled on long enough. So I will part with what I my favourite line from Winnie the Pooh:
"So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing."
