I was driving up through the Ashdown Forest on Monday morning and passed through Hartfield (near where A.A. Milne lived). There's a gift shop, been there for years, called - can you guess? Pooh Corner - which sells all the usual stuff you might expect from such a shop. Expensive crap, but at least they don't peddle the Disney version of the characters.

Many years ago, I was walking along the lane to the bridge which features as "pooh-sticks bridge" in the stories, and passed Milne's house. The owner was working in the front garden and we stopped to chat. Amazingly, he kindly showed us the back of the house and the view over the forest (and the swimming pool where Brian Jones drowned). An interesting afternoon. He offered us a cup of tea but we didn't want to overstay our welcome and declined. Something to talk about as we floated our sticks under the bridge a little later that afternoon...