Ashdown Forest, Sussex

Address: The Ashdown Forest Centre, Coleman's Hatch Road, Wych Cross, Forest Row, East Sussex, RH18 5JP.

Ashdown forest is one of the largest free public access spaces in the South East. This beautiful dog walking area is full of history and spectacular views over the Sussex countryside. Not only is this a lovely dog-friendly walking area, but it is also Famous for being the 'home' of Winnie-the-Pooh written by A.A Milne.

There is a dedicated Winnie the Pooh walking the route in the forest, but the area is not well marked, so finding it is hard. We saw several families holding maps and trying to find where to go and hearing “no we have been that way it’s this way” as we walked past. So if you are going to this area for the Winnie the Pooh walk I would highly following a map.

While walking we did find the famous Pooh bridge which we were sure to have a game of Pooh sticks on. I thought the game would be easy but we had to have a few turns as on several of our attempts the sticks didn’t even pass under the bridge!

This beautiful dog walking spot covers 6500 acres of different terrains and adventures. In some areas of our walk, we came across signs, warning us of free-roaming animals but we never came across any. The only other animal we saw was a horse in their field which was extremely friendly and came to say hello. It was Yoko’s first live encounter and the barking madness she normally does at them on the TV was not repeated in real life just side head tilts and looks of confusion.

For how large the space is and the different paths you can walk, we ran into a lot of dog walkers which is always great as Yianni and Yoko to have a play and meet some new faces when they are out walking.

There are small free car parks dotted all around Ashdown Forest which is perfect as it allows you to discover the different walking trails and it also solves the issue of parking which in our experience can be a problem when visiting good dog walking areas.

The area was perfect for Yianni and Yoko as the forest areas offered them new scents to sniff out and open spaces for them to run, play and roll around. Luckily for them, they were wearing their dog hoodies, so rolling around and playing in the mud did not result in a bath when they got home (which is always a plus for Yianni as he is not a massive fan of the bath).

I would recommend this dog walk to people and dogs that enjoy walking hills as there are a lot, but the views make it worthwhile and we visited after Christmas so a great way to burn off those extra chocolate calories!

We love to hear from our readers, so if you have ever been to Ashdown Forest or have any recommendations for other dog walks, please let us know in the comments below.

To end we would like to sum up what this walk will offer you in 3 words – Vast, Beautiful, Adventure.

Love from the Aurora Pets Team x