leaflets as to walks in the area and what
flora and fauna can be seen. It also
has regular exhibitions of artwork and
photography.
The Forest is also home to “Winnie the
Pooh”. Hundred Acre wood stands near
the village of Hartfield. Near Gills Lap,
there are a group of trees, said to be
“The Enchanted Place”. Nearby, there
is a beautiful memorial to A.A.Milne &
E.H.Sheppard, with stunning views.
You can also walk to “Piglet’s hole”,
Roo’s sandpit and the North Pole. Of
course, you can also find Pooh sticks
bridge. The bridge crosses a small
brook which seems to be permanently
dammed up with pooh sticks! It is
amazing that the water flows at all. The
surrounding trees also appear to be
short of twigs and small branches.
The Forest has also served as a home
for army training and for soldiers during
the wars. There was a camp in Forest
Row and a memorial stands on the golf
course for those lives lost. One wartime
landmark is the old air strip. The Long
car park on the A22 next to the Llama
farm stands at the tip of the air strip. The
air strip is now a mile long, flat, straight
Forest path great for rides. The sunset
from here is also amazing. The air strip
was built as an emergency landing strip
for damaged planes.
One plane didn’t make it. From the
Hollies car park you can walk south to
the “Airman’s Grave”, a walled memorial
to the loss of a six man crew of a
Wellington bomber in 1941. It crashed
on the Forest on its return from a raid
on Cologne during World War II. Each
Remembrance Sunday, a service is held
at this memorial and is well attended by
dog walkers and horse riders – a great
alternative service.
The Friends of the Ashdown Forest is
an organisation which has helped the
Conservators buy back extra land and
to effect essential repairs to paths and
bridges. One area of land so purchased
was at Chelwood Vachery. I stumbled
upon this a good few years ago. It is
an enchanting area of small lakes,
connected by sluices, weirs and bridges,
and planted gardens with unusual
trees that had become so overgrown
but still clearly showed that it was once
a beautiful landscape. The area has
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