Winnie the Pooh has inspired us from time to time. It was a children’s classic and for me, it is still the one world I will always go back to. With a very calm and profound manner, A.A Milne had many deep quotes. In one of his stories in the Hundred Acre Woods, Winnie and his friends play a game on a bridge. Pooh has a beautiful line here where he says-
“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”
This bridge where the story happens is actually based on a real bridge located in Penhurst, Kent. Here Milne and his son got the idea for the game Poohsticks which is the game from his stories. The game was to drop a pine-cone into a river and see whose sticks float the fastest and furthest.
Milne wrote and created a world for all of us to get lost in. His stories have touched many hearts and that is why when the bridge was put on the auction it sold double than what was expected. The original bridge was auctioned for £131,625 in Summers Place Auction where it was initially valued at £40,000-£60,000.
Where Is The Bridge Now?
The new owner of the bridge is Lord De La Warr. He is also the owner of a 2000-acre estate in Buckhurst Park Estate. The estate is in East Sussex which covers the woods that Hundred Acre Wood is based on. Thus, the bridge being under his ownership is quaint. The lucky owner can joyfully boast Milne’s inspiration in one piece.
Though the original bridge which existed in 1907 was dismantled and shacked in some storage, it was restored in 1999. James Rylan who was the director of the auction said – “Winnie-the-Pooh’s attraction is the innocence of a bygone age; it’s so wholesome. There’s so much badness in the world, but Winnie-the-Pooh always brings a smile to your face.”
The price of the sale is heartwarming to all who treasure the books and shows the amount of care that the world still has for Pooh. It is also not the first time that an auction-related to Pooh has made heads turn. In 2014, EH Shepard’s original illustration for Pooh, Robin and Piglet while playing Poohsticks sold for over £300,000. Then in 2018, a map of Hundred Acre Wood sold for £350,000.
Winnie and his friends have a special place in all our hearts even though Christopher Milne grew to detest the stories, our hearts still cradle the innocence of the Wood.