Editing Ashdown Forest (section)

==Visitor attractions==
===The Ashdown Forest Centre===
[[File:Ashdown Forest Centre.JPG|thumb|right|The Ashdown Forest Centre]]

The Ashdown Forest Centre, situated opposite Ashdown Park Hotel between Wych Cross and Coleman's Hatch, houses a visitor centre and is the administrative base for the Board of Conservators of Ashdown Forest. Completed in 1983, it consists of three old reconstructed barns. The visitor centre<ref>http://www.ashdownforest.org/about/forest_centre.phphere {{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> has a permanent display about the forest's history and wildlife, details of walks in the forest and much other useful information for visitors, and an exhibition area for local craft and art work. It is open 7 days a week during the summer, weekends in the winter, and on bank holidays except Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

===Vachery Forest Garden===
Landscaped in 1925 by Col. Gavin Jones for F.J. Nettlefold, this 'lost' forest garden is situated in a remote, secluded steep-sided valley near Wych Cross. It was acquired by the conservators in 1994 and is now undergoing restoration. Already uncovered are a 250 metre gorge constructed using limestone brought from [[Cheddar Gorge]], many unusual trees and a string of small lakes connected by sluices and weirs. The garden, which is open to the public, is part of Chelwood Vachery, a medieval estate dating back to at least 1229, and whose name may come from the French ''vache'', referring to the grazing of cattle here by Michelham Priory. A leaflet describing a walk through Chelwood Vachery is available from the Ashdown Forest Centre. The nearest car-park is ''Trees'' on the A22 road between Wych Cross and Nutley.

===Old Lodge Nature Reserve===
Old Lodge Nature Reserve,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sussexwt.org.uk/reserves/page00023.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070920174530/http://www.sussexwt.org.uk/reserves/page00023.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 September 2007|title=Sussex Wildlife Trust - Old Lodge|date=20 September 2007|access-date=30 March 2019}}</ref> managed by Sussex Wildlife Trust, offers open vistas of the forest's heathland. A well-marked nature trail leads round most of the hilly 76 hectare reserve, which contains acidic ponds and areas of pine woodland. The reserve is notable for dragonfly, nightjar, redstart, woodcock, tree pipit, stonechat and adder. It has been designated a [[Local Nature Reserve]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lnr.naturalengland.org.uk/Special/lnr/lnr_details.asp?C=0&N=old%20lodge&ID=322|title=Old Lodge, Nutley|series=Local Nature Reserves|publisher=Natural England|access-date=4 August 2013|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304003631/http://www.lnr.naturalengland.org.uk/Special/lnr/lnr_details.asp?C=0&N=old%20lodge&ID=322|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=lnrIndex&query=REF_CODE%3D%271009058%27 |title=Map of Old Lodge, Nutley|series=Local Nature Reserves|publisher=Natural England|access-date=4 August 2013}}</ref>

===Nutley Windmill===
[[File:Nutley Windmill 2.jpg|thumb|right| [[Nutley Windmill]]]]

[[Nutley Windmill]], which stands just north of the Nutley to Duddleswell road, is thought to be about 300 years old and is a rare example of an open-trestle post mill (the whole body of the mill can be rotated on its central post to face the wind). It has been restored to full working order and is open to the public. It is within easy walking distance of Friend's Clump car-park.

===The Airman's Grave===
[[File:Airman's grave.JPG|left|thumb|150px|Detail of the plaque affixed to the stone cross inside the Airman's Grave enclosure]]
[[File:1941_Ashdown_Forest_Wellington_crash_report.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Extract from 142 Squadron's Operations Record Book showing details of the Wellington aircrew's final sortie.]]
The 'Airman's Grave' is, despite its name, not a grave but a memorial to the six man crew of a [[Wellington bomber]] of [[No. 142 Squadron RAF|142 Squadron]] who were killed when it crashed on the southern slopes of the Forest on the morning of 31 July 1941 as it returned from a raid on Cologne during World War II. The memorial, which is a simple stone-walled enclosure on the heathland between [[Nutley,_East_Sussex|Nutley]] and [[Duddleswell]], shelters a white cross surrounded by a tiny garden of remembrance. The memorial began with a wooden cross erected at the crash site by the mother of Sergeant Victor Ronald Sutton, the second pilot, who was aged 24 at the time of his death. A short public ceremony takes place each year on Remembrance Sunday when a wreath is laid by a Forest Ranger, at the request of Mrs Sutton, together with ones on behalf of the Conservators of Ashdown Forest, the Ashdown Forest Foundation, the Society of the Friends of Ashdown Forest, the Ashdown Forest Riding Association and a variety of local groups. The Ashdown Forest Centre has published a circular walk to the memorial from Hollies car park.

===Newbridge Furnace===
At the foot of Kidd's Hill, in woods lying west of the road from Coleman's Hatch to Gills Lap, are the largely grassed-over remains of a 15th-century ironworks that mark the beginnings of Britain's modern iron and steel industry. A dedication placed at the site by the Wealden Iron Research Group reads: "Newbridge Furnace. At the behest of King Henry VII, the first English blast furnace, for the smelting of iron, was established in this place. 13 December A.D. 1496. Here, the water from the pond, held back by the dam or bay, gave power to the bellows of the furnace to make cast iron; and to a finery where the 'great water hammer' enabled immigrant French workers to forge bars of wrought iron. The works had a modest output, which cannot have exceeded 150 tons of iron a year. Early products included the ironwork of gun carriages for a military campaign in Scotland, and were soon to number guns and shot as well. From small beginnings, in this secluded corner of Sussex, grew the ironworks of the Weald, and subsequently the iron and steel industry throughout Great Britain."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wealdeniron.org.uk|title=Wealden Iron Research Group Home Page|first=Tony|last=Singleton|website=Wealdeniron.org.uk|access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref>

===The forest pale===
[[File:The Hatch Inn by Ashdown Forest, Sussex.jpg|thumb|The Hatch Inn, Coleman's Hatch, at an entrance to Ashdown Forest.]]

Possibly as early as the 13th century, Ashdown Forest was enclosed as a hunting park, mainly for deer, by a {{convert|24|mi|km|adj=on}} long ''pale''. This consisted of an earth bank 4–5 feet high surmounted by an oak paling fence with a deep ditch on the forest side that allowed deer to enter but not to leave. It enclosed an area of over 20½ square miles (5,300 hectares).<ref name="auto1"/> Entry was via 34 gates and hatches, ''gates'' being used for access by wheeled vehicles, commoners' animals and mounted groups, ''hatches'' by pedestrians. These names survive in local place-names such as Chuck Hatch and Chelwood Gate. Some of these entrances were, and still are, marked by pubs, for example the 18th-century Hatch Inn<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~nickad/index.htm|title=The Hatch Inn|website=Users.globalnet.co.uk|access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref> at Coleman's Hatch, which occupies three former cottages believed to date to 1430 that later may have housed ironworkers from the nearby blast furnace at Newbridge.

It is not known precisely when the pale was built. Forest management accounts of 1283 refer to the cost of repairing the pale and building new lengths.<ref name="ashdownforesthistory">{{cite web|url=http://www.ashdownforest.com/history.html |title=Ashdown Forest Tourism Association - Local Information, Places to Visit and News & Events from the Heart of the High Weald |access-date=18 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528102740/http://www.ashdownforest.com/history.html |archive-date=28 May 2009 }}</ref> However, the granting of the "Free-chase of Ashdon" to John of Gaunt in 1372 and its renaming as ''Lancaster Great Park'' (see below) implies that the forest may only have been recently enclosed (''chase'' denoted an open hunting ground, ''park'' an enclosed one).

The condition of the forest pale seems to have deteriorated significantly during the Tudor period. This coincided with, and may be partly linked to, the rapid growth under the Tudors of the local iron-making industry with its huge demand for raw materials in and around Ashdown Forest, such as charcoal and ironstone. This ultimately led to an appeal to King James, soon after his accession to the throne, for Ashdown's forest fences to be repaired in order to preserve the king's game. However, the pale seems to have fallen into almost complete disrepair by the end of the 17th century.

The bank and ditch associated with the pale are still visible in places around Ashdown Forest today, for example at Legsheath and adjacent to the car-park for [[Poohsticks]] Bridge on Chuck Hatch Lane.

A survey and research of the Pale of Ashdown Forest was undertaken as part of the Historic Environment Awareness Project, run by East Sussex County Council's Archaeology team, over 2011/2012 and the final report was published online.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tracing the Pale of Ashdown Forest |url=https://www.highweald.org/about-the-high-weald-unit/news/2035-tracing-the-pale-of-the-ashdown-forest-deer-park.html |website=High Weald website}}</ref>

===Winnie-the-Pooh===
[[File:Pooh sticks bridge.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Poohsticks Bridge in Ashdown Forest]]

Ashdown Forest is famous as the setting for the ''[[Winnie the Pooh|Winnie-the-Pooh]]'' stories, written by [[A. A. Milne]].<ref name="Pooh1"/><ref name="Pooh3"/> The first book, ''[[Winnie-the-Pooh (book)|Winnie-the-Pooh]]'', was published in 1926 with illustrations by [[E. H. Shepard]]. The second book, ''[[The House at Pooh Corner]]'', also illustrated by Shepard, was published in 1928. These hugely popular stories were set in and inspired by Ashdown Forest.<ref name="Pooh1"/><ref name="Pooh2"/><ref name="Pooh3"/>

Alan Milne, a writer who was born and lived in London, bought a country retreat for himself and his family at [[Cotchford Farm]], near [[Hartfield]], [[East Sussex]], in 1925. This old farmhouse was situated on the banks of a tributary of the [[River Medway]] and lay just beyond the northern boundary of Ashdown Forest, about a mile from the ancient forest entrance at Chuck Hatch. The family would stay at Cotchford Farm at weekends and in the Easter and summer holidays. It was easy to walk from the farmhouse up onto the forest, and these walks were frequently family occasions which would see Milne, his wife, Daphne, his son, [[Christopher Robin Milne|Christopher Robin]], and his son's nanny, Olive, going "in single file threading the narrow paths that run through the heather".<ref>Milne (1974), p. 62.</ref> Christopher, who was an only child born in 1920 and whose closest childhood relationship was with his nanny, spent his early years happily exploring the forest. It is the Ashdown Forest landscape, and Christopher's reports of his experiences and discoveries there, that provided inspiration and material for A.A. Milne's stories. As Christopher Milne wrote later: "Anyone who has read the stories knows the forest and doesn't need me to describe it. Pooh’s Forest and Ashdown Forest are identical".<ref>Milne (1974), p. 61.</ref>

Several of the sites described in the books can be easily identified, although their names have been changed. For example, Five Hundred Acre Wood, which is a dense beech wood that was originally sold off from the forest in 1678 and is today privately owned, and which Christopher would sometimes walk through to reach the forest, became ''[[Hundred Acre Wood]]''. The hilltop of Gills Lap, crowned by pine trees and visible from miles around, became ''Galleon's Lap''. The ''North Pole'' and ''Gloomy Place'' are in Wren’s Warren Valley, a short walk north-east of Gill's Lap, as is ''The Dark and Mysterious Forest''.

Furthermore, the landscapes depicted in Shepard’s illustrations for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, which are very evocative of Ashdown Forest, can in many cases be matched up to actual views, allowing for a degree of artistic licence. Shepard's sketches of pine trees and other forest scenes are now exhibited at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum|V&A Museum]] in London.

A free leaflet, “Pooh Walks from Gill's Lap”, which is available from the Ashdown Forest Centre and downloadable from its website, describes a walk that takes in many locations familiar from the Pooh stories including ''Galleon's Lap'', ''The Enchanted Place'', the ''[[Heffalump trap|Heffalump Trap]]'' and Lone Pine, ''North Pole'', ''100 Aker Wood'' and Eeyore’s ''Sad and Gloomy Place''.

[[File:Gills Lap Plaque.JPG|thumb| right|Memorial plaque dedicated to [[A. A. Milne]] and [[E. H. Shepard]] at Gill's Lap]]A memorial plaque to Milne and Shepard can be found at Gill's Lap. Its heading is a quotation from the Pooh stories: "...and by and by they came to an enchanted place on the very top of the forest called Galleons Lap". The dedication reads: "Here at Gill's Lap are commemorated A. A. Milne 1882-1956 and E.H. Shepard 1879-1976 who collaborated in the creation of "Winnie-the-Pooh" and so captured the magic of Ashdown Forest and gave it to the world".

[[Poohsticks Bridge]], which is open to the public, lies outside the forest on the northern edge of Posingford Wood, near Chuck Hatch. A path leads to the bridge from a car-park on Chuck Hatch Lane, just off the B2026 Maresfield to Hartfield road. The original bridge was built in 1907, restored in 1979 and completely rebuilt in 1999. So popular is the game of [[Poohsticks]] that the surrounding area has been denuded of twigs and small branches by the many visitors.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

''Pooh Corner'', situated on the High Street in Hartfield village, sells Winnie-the-Pooh related products and offers information for visitors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pooh-country.co.uk/|title=Pooh Corner|website=Pooh-country.co.uk|access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref>
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In 2001 rare archival [[cine film]] footage depicting a school pageant held in Ashdown Forest in 1929 came to public attention when it was discovered that a child clearly identifiable as [[Christopher Robin Milne]] could be seen in it. It was shown in a [[documentary film|documentary]] by the "Southern Eye" programme broadcast by the [[BBC Two]] television channel on 27 November 2001.
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