The former home of Winnie-the-Pooh author A.A. Milne is for rent with Hamptons for £9,995 per month.
Milne bought the pretty, 16th century country house at the end of 1924 for his wife, Dorothy de Sélincourt, and their five-year-old son, Christopher Robin Milne, intending to use it as a country retreat.
Set in the heart of Ashdown Forest in Sussex’s rolling countryside, the Grade II-listed Cotchford Farm was where Milne wrote all of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, inspired by the surrounding landscapes and adventures of his son.
The famous Hundred Acre Wood, for example, was based on the real-life Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest, with its ancient woodland, dense canopy and moss-covered tree roots.
Poohsticks Bridge, where Pooh invents his game —players drop sticks into the water on one side of the bridge to see which emerges first— is inspired by a real bridge, not far away from the house, while Galleon’s Lap, the fictional hilltop circle of trees, draws on Gill’s Lap in Ashdown Forest.
Immortalised by the books, the landscape has become popularly known as “Pooh Country”.
“Of the three of us, I suppose it could be said that I was the one most totally captivated by Cotchford,” wrote Christopher Milne in his autobiography, The Enchanted Place. “It gave me all the delight it gave my mother and all the delight —the very different delight— it gave my father; and it continued to do this, on and off, for thirty years.”
Christopher Milne left Cotchford in 1942 to join the military, while A.A. Milne stayed there until his death in 1956. De Sélincourt remained at the property for a few years before eventually selling it.
Milne, though, wasn’t the property’s only famous owner. In 1968, Cotchford was purchased by guitarist Brian Jones, one of the founding members of the Rolling Stones.
Jones is credited with naming the band after a Muddy Waters’ song, and for defining their early blues sound.
But Jones suffered from addiction, and, in June 1969, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts travelled to Cotchford in person to tell him that his time in the band was up. Less than a month later, 27-year-old Jones was found dead in the swimming pool.
Cotchford’s most recent owners purchased the property in 2017, according to Land Registry records, and have run it as a holiday let which “offers a unique glimpse into the life of a literary genius and the enchanting world that inspired his timeless works”.
Today, Milne’s former home covers 3,400 square feet, with six bedrooms spread across the top two floors. Downstairs, there is a kitchen and breakfast room, family room, study and drawing room. Milne is said to have written from the house’s sitting room.
The 16th-century house still contains a number of original features, including its exposed timber beams, leaded windows, wide oak floorboards and dramatic fireplaces. In the living room, for example, there is a wide hearth with a brick surround, while the dining room has stone floors and wood panelled walls.
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Outside, there is a heated outdoor swimming pool, tennis court and two acres of grounds, with landscaped gardens, formal terraces and woodland walks. There are also a number of outbuildings, adding an extra 400 square feet of space.
“The house is returning to what it has always been at heart, a family home,” the owners have written on the property’s website. “It has been an extraordinary privilege to share the farmhouse where Winnie-the-Pooh was written, and we're grateful to everyone who has stayed with us.”
Cotchford Farm is rented furnished for £9,995 per month, and is available from 31 October this year.
“Cotchford Farm is a truly extraordinary home in the heart of Ashdown Forest, best known as the former home of playwright and author of the beloved Winnie-the Pooh stories, A.A Milne. It was here that the timeless tales were written – in the sitting room to be specific,” says Emma Johnson at Hamptons.
“The enchanting setting of Cotchford Farm and the surrounding Ashdown Forest provided endless inspiration for A.A. Milne, along with the childhood adventures of his son, Christopher Robin Milne, living at the property helping bring to life some of the world’s most cherished characters.”
