Christmas Eve 2025 marked the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of one of the worl.d’s most popular children’s characters.
Winnie-the-Pooh first featured in the short story The Wrong Sort of Bees published in the newspaper London Evening News on 24 December 1925.
The bear soon became loved world-wide, alongside Tigger, Christopher Robin, the game of Pooh sticks and the fictional 100 Aker Wood, which was in reality Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, where author AA Milne had a country home.
Pooh’s enormous fame still generates a substantial income for the area to this day,
Pooh Corner has been a gift shop and tea room close to Pooh Sticks Bridge in Hartfield since 1978 and is filled with Winnie the Pooh mementos.
In 1925 AA Milne, who was born in London, bought a country home a mile to the north of the forest at Cotchford Farm, near Hartfield.
Winnie-the-Pooh, featuring the imaginary adventures of A.A. Milne’s son Christoper Robin and his toy bear, was published in 1926 and its sequel The House at Pooh Corner in 1928.
There were also two books of poems featuring the much-loved characters.
The original bridge where A.A.Milne and his son Christopher Robin created the game Poohsticks became worn and unsafe in the late 1990s.
It was dismantled and replaced with a replica which is still in place in Ashdown Forest.
The original bridge was sold in 2021 for £131,000 stg.