Deep in a medieval hunting forest, amid 6,500 acres of heathland, a wooden bridge spans a tributary of the River Medway. Every single day, no matter the weather, people flock to stand on its slats and cheer on sticks as they float downstream.
I know this because on a frosty but sunny morning, (“a very long time ago now, about last Friday”, as children’s author AA Milne might have said), I stood with two such adults jumping up and down with delight as my little piece of oak stormed ahead and won the race.
The game is Pooh Sticks, originally described by Milne in Winnie-the-Pooh, which was published in 1926. It was inspired by the game he and his son, Christopher (Robin), would play on Posingford Bridge in Ashdown Forest (AKA the Hundred Acre Wood) in East Sussex. Just 30 miles south of London, this sprawling open heathland lies within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the book, a programme of free cultural events is planned for this summer in the forest and throughout the county. Highlights include a series of interactive performances by “the Curious Adventurer”, a puppet brought to life by 10 puppeteers. Five new walks themed around different species are launching too, encouraging people to visit more of the forest.
Winnie the Pooh’s House. Photograph: Mark Phillips/Alamy
I joined ranger Beth Morgan to explore the real places inextricably linked to the make-believe world where Christopher Robin once played. The bridge is a short walk from the 16th-century farmhouse known as Cotchford Farm where Milne once lived (now an Airbnb), and easily accessed from the public car park off Chuck Hatch Road. “That,” Beth said as we passed a small red wooden door, tucked into the lower roots of a tall, moss-covered birch tree, “is Piglet’s house; Pooh-lovers have added them along the path.” I felt as if I was walking into a storybook.
For fans of the book – and later Disney cartoons – the easy-to-follow 2.5-mile (4km) stroll to Pooh Sticks Bridge is the most popular. Just beside the bridge is Pooh’s postbox, which usually contains offerings of honey that visitors leave for the sweet-toothed bear.
The way Milne captured the magic of this place has been key to helping preserve it. “The low heath habitat we have here is rarer than tropical rainforest,” said Beth. “And people’s interest in it – thanks to the Pooh connection – is what has brought in funding to help conserve it.”
Until Brexit, the forest received about £500,000 a year from EU grants; now it is constantly short of funds. But the hope is that the anniversary plans and new walking trails will help bring more people and donations to the area.
One surprising thing about the forest is that back in Milne’s day just 10% of this open heathland would have been woodland. Now it’s 40%, meaning that trees and gorse are actually encroaching on the ancient landscape, which presents the biggest challenge and cost.
A 20-strong herd of free-roaming ponies, along with Galloway cattle and Hebridean sheep, help manage it. As I watched them meandering slowly through the bracken munching on gorse and saplings, I couldn’t help but picture Eeyore, the grumpy donkey from Winnie-the-Pooh.
AA Milne with his son, Christopher Robin. Photograph: Bettmann Archive
Suitably, my next stop, Pooh Corner, a former post office in the village of Hartfield to the north of the forest, was actually visited by the real Eeyore (Christopher’s real-life donkey Jessica). It’s now a cafe, gift shop and museum. “So many people have either grown up watching the movies or reading the books,” said owner Neil Reed as I tucked into a pile of honey-laden treats, “but really the fascinating story is the one where we learn what happened beyond the pages – who the father and son really were.”
His small museum tells that story, through school photos of Milne, newspaper cuttings (including the first Pooh story, which was published in London’s Evening News on Christmas Eve 1925) and even a note from Milne’s former science teacher HG Wells. Also on display are the understated illustrations of EH Shepard and the more gaudy souvenirs made by Disney, who acquired the rights to Pooh back in 1961.
After my deep dive into Pooh history, I checked into Helix, a new cabin from Unplugged and Healf, on the Buckhurst Estate close to the forest. With its own wood-fired sauna and ice bath, and huge picture windows making the surrounding trees part of the bedroom walls, the emphasis is on bringing the outdoors indoors.
The following day I discovered perhaps the most enchanting thing about Ashdown Forest – that the place hasn’t been Disneyfied. The only real mention of Pooh is on the official Long Pooh Walk from Gills Lap, a 2-mile circular (a route map is available from the Ashdown Forest Centre or online for 50p). And even on that route there are no cutesy bear faces, just a sweeping sandy plateau, punctuated by clumps of trees, AKA the Enchanted Place, and clusters of heather.
Helix cabin has its own wood-fired sauna and ice bath. Photograph: Phillip Scott
Over the next couple of hours I took my time, wandering with map in hand, visiting the Gloomy Place – where Eeyore lost his house (and Christopher Milne’s donkey was put out to pasture), the Heffalump Trap (a striking lone pine with views over the Weald), Roo’s Sandy Pit (a white sand quarry) and ending with a pause at the Milne and Shepard Memorial.
Later that afternoon, I walked from my doorstep to Birchden Vineyards a few miles away. I sampled some of the white and sparkling wine varieties the family-run winery is known for, as well as apple juice and raw, unfiltered honey made by bees who feed on the flora of Ashdown Forest. Pooh would have approved.
On my final day, I decided to take a lesson from the bear I’d been following and do nothing at all. I spent the day at my cabin – where you are encouraged to lock up your mobile phone to be properly off-grid. I sat outside and listened to the call of a warbler, the tap-tap-tapping of a woodpecker and, as night fell, the hoot of an owl. I lay in the sauna and watched a family of fallow deer wander by as though I was invisible, and later I shrieked like Tigger as I plunged into an ice bath under a sky filled with stars.
Winnie-the-Pooh once said: “We didn’t realise we were making memories. We just knew we were having fun.” Perhaps, I mused, as the last of the light faded, he wasn’t such a silly bear after all.
The trip was provided by Visit England and Explore Wealden, with accommodation inHelix: The Wellbeing Cabin with Healf provided byUnplugged. Three nights from £660. For more information about Ashdown Forest and the Winnie-the-Pooh celebrations, see ashdownforest.org.
FOR Dermot Kennedy’s third album, he wanted to explore both the beauty and burden of a successful music career.
The award-winning Irish singer might headline huge arenas but he has always had his feet firmly on the ground, valuing a normal life, privacy and simple things such as walking in his local woods — the theme of his new record.
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Dermot Kennedy says a lot of songs from his new album, The Weight of the Woods, carry a ‘vulnerability’ he has not previously shownCredit: SuppliedKennedy says it’s better for him to ‘sit back and let the music do the work’Credit: Supplied
He says: “I feel I’m at a sweet spot, because I can play The O2 in London but I can walk around all day and no one really knows who I am.
“Having a career in music is a blessing. It’s the most amazing thing, but at the same time, there are certain challenges that come with it. It tests relationships and tests your own resolve, it’s a pressure. And I wanted to write about that.”
The pull of nature as a place to reset became more powerful to the singer as he found success — both his previous collections, Without Fear (2019) and Sonder (2022), topped the album chart.
“With a career in music, you’re not anonymous, you’re constantly moving from city to city,” he explains.
“Being somewhere where you can only see trees in every direction has become more and more important to me, and more powerful. Where I live is quite remote, and that’s the way I want to be.”
This recurring woodland imagery reflects a sense of calm and nostalgia to Kennedy, and the cover of his new album, The Weight Of The Woods, features the singer in a woodland setting.
As we chat in his central London record label offices, he’s signing a huge pile of his new CDs.
“It’s a great album cover,” he says smiling. “Even signing these all morning, I’m not sick of looking at it yet.”
A standout on Kennedy’s new record is the track Sycamore, a gorgeous introspective ode to home and identity.
“The Irish landscape has always been important to me,” he says. “Where we took the picture for the album still resonates. It’s a big part of how I’m inspired.”
Working with producer Gabe Simon — who produced Noah Kahan’s 2022 breakthrough album, Stick Season — Kennedy made The Weight Of The Woods in Ireland, Nashville and Norway.
He says: “Sycamore is lush and smooth, which felt different for me. It was the first song we made when Gabe came over — there’s a sycamore tree right in front of my house that’s become a kind of talisman in my life. It felt like a lovely way to start.
“A lot of these songs carry a vulnerability I haven’t shown before, and that felt important, because you can’t pretend you’re 100 per cent all the time. It’s just not true.”
This shift shows a new confidence, one that allows him to do things his own way.
“Generally, I’m a quiet person, so on previous albums I wasn’t the loudest in the room whereas with this one, I have the confidence to shout for it and take my time.
“It’s taken this long to get to a point where I know what I want — what I need and what’s authentic.”
The Weight Of The Woods reflects a stage in his life where Kennedy feels more secure, more at home and more fully himself. Now married with a baby daughter, his perspective has shifted in ways he struggles to fully articulate.
“How has fatherhood changed me?” he ponders. “It’s hard to sum up, I can’t explain it in a couple of minutes.
“It just means the world to me and gives you a completely new perspective on life.
“It makes you realise there are more important things than chasing goals in music.
“The best thing I can do now is make music that moves me and try to live in a way that feels like the purest version of who I am. It becomes the centre of everything.
“Fatherhood has given me more confidence, but also a different kind of fragility, making me more emotionally open.
“A lot of these songs carry a vulnerability that I haven’t shown in my music before, and that’s important.”
Musically, Kennedy feels the album has a strong Irishness, though it was not a deliberate concept.
Honest is a track that feels especially personal, as it directly references where he is from in Ireland.
He says: The first lyric is about Kilteel [near Rathcoole, Co Dublin] which is an important part of where I’m from. It’s a more personal record so I needed to tell the story of where I’m from.”
He reflects on the pull of home: “Sometimes when you’re trying to have a career in music, people assume they need to move away and live somewhere else.
“But in Ireland we have one of the richest musical landscapes in the world, you know? So, it’s nice to be a part of that.
“And it’s the most Irish-sounding track. I played the bodhran [a traditional Irish frame drum] on it, the drum you hear at the beginning, and there’s also a tin whistle. It all came together very naturally so these songs feel dynamic to me and they’re really going to work live.”
Wasted is a favourite of Kennedy’s on the record. Inspired by US singer and producer Dijon, he says: “It felt like it had that excited, upbeat energy without being pop. It felt real in the room and exciting.”
Then there’s The Only Time I Prayed, which explores the singer’s relationship with faith.
“I’ve got songs like Glory, and lyrics about the devil, but I’d consider myself definitely agnostic. I believe in otherworldly things but I’m not a practising Catholic.
“Still, when things get difficult, people pray — regardless of faith. It comes from desperation, and I find that fascinating. Sometimes I even feel envious of people with a strong faith.”
The singer says it has taken time for him to discover what he truly wants, needs, and feels is authenticCredit: Supplied
Another highlight on the record is Funeral, a stunning track about letting go of the past to move forward.
“I just wanted that song to be about ditching any difficult stuff I’ve been through,” he says.
“Songwriters spend an awful lot of time wallowing in the past and I wanted it to feel triumphant — moving forward into something more positive.
“It felt good and the vocal carries an energy which is always a fun thing on a song.”
On this third album, Kennedy feels more confident, self-assured and clearer about what is authentic to him.
He says: “It’s less inhibition and less stress — not poring over every decision. So confidence showed up in quite a carefree, exciting way.”
It was important to Kennedy that the album was stripped back and imperfect to add to the studio atmosphere.
“Musically, if you listen closely, there are lots of imperfections, little noises other artists or producers might take out,” he says.
“You can hear someone talking, a chair creaking. It puts me back in that room, and I don’t want to lose that.”
That same approach mirrors a wider creative release: “I feel like I’ve let go massively, which is a good thing.”
That sense of letting go has also reshaped how he defines success.
“Any pressure that came with the second album was internal, applied by myself,” he says. “I don’t think being competitive puts me in the best place to be the best artist I can be. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t.
“Tracking streams or records isn’t success to me. With this record, it was just lovely to get back to a place where I really enjoyed making the music, the visual world around it, and playing the songs.
“Don’t get me wrong, I still want lots of people to hear it, but I feel like I’ve already succeeded with this project.
“If it reaches a ton of people, that’s fantastic, but I had a beautiful time making it, and that’s everything.
“When you chase numbers and all that stuff, it’s all quite surface level and not very fulfilling in the end.
“I don’t think trying too hard is the move. It’s important to work hard and promote things, but being overly try-hard isn’t appealing.
“It’s better to sit back and let the music do the work. By letting go — stepping back from social media and putting the music first — it feels more likely to set my career up the way I want it.”
Live performance remains central to Kennedy’s identity. He feels he has built his career the “old-fashioned way” by playing rooms and winning audiences over.
He says: “Nowadays, there’s so many ways that someone can forge a career. You can blow up on the internet or go viral. For me, it’s never really been like that.
“It’s been more about getting people into a room. I think I can play in such a way that they might want to come back and see it again next time.”
“For me, when I dreamed about having a career in music, all I thought about was playing in big, beautiful theatres. So playing live is an important part of what I do.”
Even as he now fills large venues, Kennedy is keen to preserve a sense of intimacy within those spaces.
He explains: “We’re going to do it differently. There are lots of ways you can use tech in a live show. You can run tracks for things like horns and production, but then the whole show ends up on track and can feel like elevated karaoke.
“You can come off stage feeling like you haven’t really achieved much. So, with this tour, we’ve got rid of the click track and any backing tracks. It’s about keeping it real and letting the performance have more freedom.
“We’re getting rid of any kind of bells and whistles, and it’s just fun. I could start a song at any tempo, I could be feeling a certain way that ends up being a faster version with more energy, or we could pull it right back.
“You go to a live show for the energy, and I think it’s far easier to tap into that special place if you don’t have that stuff.”
Kennedy is also more careful about looking after his voice when he tours
“I try not to do more than two nights in a row, because it compromises the rest of the tour. It means I can walk on stage excited, instead of just hoping I get through it.”
It’s part of a wider shift in how he approaches performance. “It’s a process as well, working with vocal coaches and stuff. I run a lot more now, because you need that lung capacity. I’m not sure about other people’s experience touring, but it feels like a sport sometimes.”
That mindset has also made him more aware of the level required to sustain a major live career — something he saw first-hand watching Taylor Swift live.
Kennedy on stage in the US earlier this monthCredit: Getty
“Well, I saw her at the venue I’m playing this summer, and it was inspiring.” he says. “I saw Travis, her fiancé, talking about her fitness regime and just how she’s operating at a kind of scary level.
“I find that really inspiring, because it makes you realise this is a very high level of what we do — you have to take it seriously. When someone is that on top of their game, it’s just incredibly motivating.”
“The show is, what, three hours long? It was wild to see. And honestly, it was just cool to be in Dublin and see people so excited by those songs.
“What really struck me was that it was just her songs. You realise this is someone who started out just writing songs, and now it’s millions of people all over the world.
“But it doesn’t feel like some manufactured pop machine. It just feels like someone who writes songs, and that’s what makes it so powerful.”
The album The Weight Of The Woods is out on April 3.
Dermot Kennedy’s The Weight Of The Woods is out on April 3Credit: supplied
ALFIE Boe – one of the nation’s favourite tenors – will be unleashing his inner rock god on new album Face Myself.
The record, out on April 10, is inspired by his love of the Madchester era and was produced by Myriot, who previously worked with Primal Scream.
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Alfie Boe is about to unleash his inner rock god on new album Face MyselfCredit: GettyAlfie Boe revealed his new album’s title track pays tribute to late Stone Roses bassist Gary ‘Mani’ MounfieldCredit: Getty
The classical singer said he spent his weekends travelling up to Manchester as a teenager to immerse himself in the music scene, where the Stone Roses launched hits such as I Wanna Be Adored. Alfie said: “At the time I was writing that song, Mani passed away.
“So I had to put a tribute in the song. I changed the lyrics to say, ‘For good old Mani, he played it right’.”
The high-energy track, which is released today, also name checks Liam and Noel Gallagher’s childhood home on Cranwell Drive and celebrates the Madchester spirit.
On the track he sings: “Dreams are grown in Burnage sky, a golden past that made us cry.
“The prom is glorified with lights, for good old Mani, he played it right. Those Cranwell boys, they sang along.”
As a teen, Alfie, who has clocked up 12 Top Ten albums including four No1s, joined an indie band and later found himself exploring classical music.
“I was in an indie band called The English Roses,” Alfie said with a laugh. We were going to go on tour and I was going to be the drummer. But there was school to attend, which was fine, but then I joined lots of other little bands.”
Alfie’s new album is made up of mostly original material and he was inspired to start writing by his pal, The Who’s Pete Townshend.
And the Les Miserables stage fave says the record is all about facing his past, adding: “I thought, what is it about me I have to face?
“It was my childhood, my teenage years, and what got me to where I am today. It’s been a wonderful journey.”
Dua’s full of beans
Dua Lipa has landed a Nespresso ambassador dealDua also had a snap with George Clooney, long-time face of the brand
Dua Lipa has a hefty cheque coming her way, plus a lifetime’s supply of coffee I imagine.
She’s signed up to be global ambassador for Nespresso and posed in blue co-ords to promote the new tie-in. Dua also had a snap with George Clooney, long-time face of the brand.
Greg heading to £2m…but pleads for Wills’ help again
Greg James got a royal boost on his 1,000km Comic Relief ride after Prince William hopped on his tandemCredit: Getty Images
As I caught up with Greg yesterday from the Yorkshire Moors, he said he wished William had stuck around.
Greg, resting up on a wall, below, said with a laugh: “I could’ve done with his legs today. Wills, if you’re reading this, help.”
He has remained incredibly upbeat despite the physical and mental toll the challenge is taking.
And he has been buoyed by the incredible donations from the public, which last night was creeping towards the £2million mark. Greg, who set off from Dorset last Friday and is pedalling all the way to Edinburgh, said: “The hills are very, very difficult today.
“But there was a really nice crowd of people shouting at me at the top.
“The good news is we’ve raised over £1.5million, which is an absurd amount. I’d be happy with that if it was the final total but we’ve got three days left.”
He starts his ride from Sunderlandthis morning with two full days to go.
Tomorrow he will begin his final push, cycling from Galashiels in the Borders to Edinburgh, where he is set to arrive in time for Comic Relief to start on BBC One at 7pm. You can do this, Greg!
Placebo are making a comeback for the 30th anniversary of their debut album, which they have reworked into a new version.
Placebo re:created will be out on June 19.
They will then kick off a European tour this September playing songs from their first two albums, with dates in Nottingham, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, London and Cardiff in November and December.
Big cat in Africa
Doja Cat shows her wild side in clashing animal prints during her Move Afrika performance in RwandaCredit: Getty
Doja Cat showed her wild side in clashing animal prints while on stage in Rwanda.
The Say So rapper, who wore a blue wig with a tiger-striped bodysuit, was performing at Global Citizen’s Move Afrika concert.
She sounded great, despite her carefree lifestyle.
In a new interview with Vogue yesterday, Doja admitted she’s had to curb bad habits for the sake of her live shows.
She said: “I love trash – I’m Oscar the Grouch. I love to eat garbage, and I love to drink, and I love to party.
Doja, who had a romance with actor Joseph Quinn in 2024, went on to reveal she is a serial dater, adding: “I’m 30, so I’m ovulating and horny.”
At least she tells it how it is.
Mosh-pit memories with trust
Yungblud is among the stars featured in Teenage Cancer Trust’s Good Energy mosh pit exhibition at the Royal Albert HallCredit: Getty
The Teenage Cancer Trust is staging a photo exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall to mark the joys of mosh pits.
Musicians including Yungblud, Wolf Alice, Fontaines DC and The Sex Pistols ft Frank Carter are featured in the show, called Good Energy.
It highlights “good energy”, which is the code used by fans to look after each other in the crowd. Frank said of his pic: “It was taken in the Royal Albert Hall.
“To play there with the Sex Pistols was a dream come true. Seeing a mosh pit inside such a venue felt like the definition of Good Punk Energy.
The exhibition runs until April 9. Buy signed copies of the prints at teenagecancer trust.org/good.
One direction’s Louis Tomlinson confessed the band’s debut No1 single, What Makes You Beautiful, was his least favourite track. He told Scott Mills’s Radio 2 show: “Performing it was always really eggy.”
Louis also took aim at the handling of 1D’s split, adding: “Hiatus, what a horrible word. It’s cringey, screams management.”
The Sun told last week that Harper had taken part in a photoshoot for beauty brand Hiku by Harper, which is expected to launch in the coming months. Now Princess is following suit.
She said on the Not My Bagg podcast: “I’ve been working on it for ages. I was in Liverpool three days ago.
“I went up for a photoshoot for my beauty brand, which is so good. It’s being released this year.
I’m so excited. I’ve always wanted to be involved in some sort of business. Make-up, I love, so it had to be that.”
Period dramas are more popular than ever thanks to the likes of Bridgerton and Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights.
Five things about The Other Bennet Sister’s Ella Bruccoleri
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice universe is far from just Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy as a new BBC adaptation is ready to air.
Netflix fans are curious to see how the iconic novel written by author Dolly Alderton will take shape this year but there’s an alternative with a twist on BBC One in the meantime.
Based on the best-selling 2020 novel of the same name, The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow is finally being brought to life in the shape of a 10-episode period drama.
But rather than telling the love story of Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, the BBC series will be told from the perspective of Mary Bennet, the “seemingly unremarkable” middle sister of the Bennet family.
She may be considered the “overlooked middle sister” of Pride and Prejudice but, in this series, Mary Bennet will stand in the spotlight for the first time.
For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website.
Debuting with a double bill tonight, Sunday, March 15, at 8pm on BBC One, The Other Bennet Sister “follows Mary as she steps out of her sisters’ shadows in search of her own identity and purpose, finding herself in the middle of an epic love story along the way.
“Her journey will see her leave her family home in Meryton for the soirées of Regency London and the peaks and vales of the Lake District, all in search of independence, self-love, and reinvention.”
Bringing the 19th Century Regency drama to life are an abundance of familiar faces, led by none other than Call the Midwife actress Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet.
She is joined by stars including Gavin and Stacey’s Ruth Jones as Mrs Bennet, The Capture actress Indira Varma as Mrs Gardiner and Saltburn actor Richard E Grant as Mr Bennet, just to name a few.
Despite not yet airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, The Other Bennet has already won itself a legion of fans thanks to Hadlow’s hit book.
Taking to Goodreads, a fan described it as “Beautifully written, moving and plausible, and very much in the spirit of Austen.”
Another echoed: “I would think that Austen herself wrote this book if I didn’t know better.
“Hadlow completely nails Austen’s witty, sharp sense of humor and elegant turns of phrase.”
“I absolutely love this – it’s a lovely, powerful and sweet book and I just adored it”, a third said.
While fourth added: “This is a fantastic re-telling of a classic novel and its characters, reforming our view of Mary Bennet, and elevating her into a heroine in her own right.”
The Other Bennet Sister premieres tonight, Sunday, March 15, at 8pm on BBC One.
