In Pooh's Step: Follow me to the journey of Winnie the Pooh's World

You probably know Winnie the Pooh is a fictional story written by A. A. Milne.

You probably know most of the characters in the story are named by Christopher Robin Milne's toys : Winnie, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore.

But you probably not notice the settings for the stories can actually link to real places in and around Ashdown Forest, Sussex, England.

And throwback to a month ago, me and my cousins drove to the forest and visited Pooh's Corner.

Let me show you the journey of exploring the home of Winnie the Pooh!!

This is the way to get there by public transport:
By car Nearest motorway exit is Junction 10 of M23, 11 miles away. From there follow A264 and A22 to Forest Row, then turn left on to B2110 to reach Hartfield village.
By bus The 291 bus links Hartfield with Crawley and Forest Row - but not on Sundays.
By train The closest rail station is Ashurst, just under 3 miles away.

It is a short 20 minutes drive from my cousins' home. We googled a lot beforehand and it's impossible to walk through the whole area. You can either go for a short walk or a long walk. For more details, go to this link: http://www.ashdownforest.org/enjoy/walking/docs/Walk1_PoohWalksFromGillsLap.pdf

This is the route we picked but we started at point 5, then down and follow the red. 

Starting point is Pooh's Corner, Winnie the Pooh's gift shop and tea room, we thought we could get some free maps but it's actually £2 for a map. The shopkeeper told us to walk till the farmhouse sign and follow the Pooh walk mark for the rest of the way.

Starting from here, follow the yellow arrow sign to the Pooh Sticks bridge

There is no refreshment throughout the whole walking trail, so it is better to bring some snacks and water:) Also, during the winter time, the sky goes dark pretty soon, we did not see any other people during the walk. I would suggest you to go early and maybe go with friends. 

And finally after a long walk, we were nearby the bridge and we found Pooh's house. This is where Pooh lives. 

I couldn't believe it is THAT small, seriously. I could have walked pass without noticing. LOL 

Looking familiar...?

That is the bridge where Christopher and Pooh play the sticks game:) 

(I met Robin!)

Carry on the rest of the journey, there was nothing much more to see as we did not have enough time to go to more celebrated places like "The Enchanted Place", "Heffalump Trap", "Gills Lap".

The journey took us about two hours, wearing wellies is a must!

After the long walk, why not hop in the tea room for a nice afternoon tea? 

Yum yum. 

Tigger Toastie (first pic, the one with chips)                                                    £3.95

Pooh Toast with honey                                                                                      £1.50

Chestnut mushroom soup with bread                                                                £2.90

Pooh's honey tea with scones, jam, clotted cream & tea pot for one                £3.95

Piglet's cream tea with fruit scones, jam, clotted cream & tea pot for one       £3.95

Apple pie with custard                                                                                       £2.50

Coffee and walnut cake                                                                                     £2.35

Delicious food and incredible cheap prices but you can't have your cake and eat it too! 

Citybreaker

For a moment i have lots of travel ideas running in my mind. There are many places i want to explore but as bounded by my journalism work, i can go nowhere. Lucky that with a chance of my friend having an interview outside London, I can get away the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy a day in Dorset.

Dorset is situated in the south west of England, benefits from the mesmerising beauty of the nature. It has one of the highest proportions of conversation areas in England, including its famous coastline with wonderful cove, natural arch and chalk stacks. (UNESCO Heritage Site)

So this is our journey to Dorset.

A two hour train from London Waterloo to Bournemouth was not too bad and once landed, we rented a car to drive to Dorset. Everything's booked in advance.

First thing first was to get my friend's interview done. We drove for an hour to reach the green roof company. Very different from London, on the way we drove seeing trees glisten in perfect symmetry, beautiful colour palettes of orange, red and green creating a spectacular autumn-winter scenery.

Interview done. Met some nice people and a lovely dog Abby.

Off set we started our exploration around Dorset. Drove for another hour and we arrived a beautiful UNESCO Heritage site - Durdle Door.

The natural limstone arch along with the gradient coloured ocean. "WOW" and kept my mouth open for few minutes.

me : "WOW"

friend : "Oh my god, this is beautiful."

me : "Oh wow..."

friend : "Can you believe we are seeing this in UK?"

me : "wowwwww"

Conversation continued.

Then we carried on our little trip and drove down to Corfe Castle. Driving in countryside was comfortable, no busy traffic, not much stops. One thing to be careful was the narrow driveway, especially the single lanes that might face incoming cars.

The castle just closed when we just went to there, couldn't get any nice pictures from the top of the castle. So carry on we drove to our final destination: Old Harry Rocks, another natural chalk stones. It's a long walk even we parked nearby as we had to walk to the cliff side but it's totally worth going.
On the way we walked, we met three weird cows and had few minutes staring contests. lol

The day I spent in Dorset, I realised:

• I didn't look at my phone much, I didn't check my messages and emails every few minutes. 
• I felt so much happier and care-free, not even worried about any of my assignment deadlines or worried not getting any interviews done.
• People living here can run in total darkness. Maybe they got night vision?! 
• Living in countryside is so relaxing. Wake up have breakfast, walk dogs or feed farm animals, drive to town for groceries, grab a drink in local pub, chat with neighbours, and go home cook dinner! 
• One important thing: YOU CAN'T GO TO THESE PLACES WITHOUT DRIVING :D

Bon Appetit

This time in Paris, I didn't go much for the tourist attraction. I joined in my friend's trip to find nice and good restaurants around Paris and of course, a bit of shopping as well:) In this post, I will boom you guys lots of food photos!!! 

A tiring 7-hour coach journey took me straight from London Victoria station to Paris Gallieni station. I slept, woke up, slept again, and woke up. Repetitive. I would suggest you all to take Eurostar if you can, but remember to get the cheap tickets earlier. The eurostar website will have promotional tickets in every few months. So go here to check for it.

DAY1

It was 5pm when I arrived Paris. Right after settling down, FEEDING TIME!!! Surprisingly my first meal in Paris was not French cuisine but JAPANESE FOOD       

This is OKOMUSU, specialised in okonomiyaki. 

Address: 11 Rue Charlot, 75003, Paris

www.okomusu.com

Nearby station: Saint Sebastien-Frossart/ Rambuteau

First it comes with appetiser, soft-boiled pumpkin.

It's boiled in soy sauce and sugar for long time, soft texture, slight sweet taste. 

We ordered
Pork Okonomiyaki €17
Squid Okonomiyaki €17
Fried Riceball €3 for 2
Oolong Tea and Green Tea.

The okonomiyaki comes with miso soup, this miso soup is different from others. It's white miso with onions, japanese yam and deep fried dough. The japanese yam is really gooey, it barely has taste as people usually dip it with soy sauce. But the miso soup is very fresh and unusual to see in restaurants.

After dinner, of course it's DESSERT TIME:)

We bought two pieces of patisseries from a local bakery, Chez Manon

We got raspberry soufflé €4 and almond Paris Brest €4. 

There is a reason why people love french patisserie so much, they are unlike those thick icing sugar that you will find in UK. Their sweetness are just perfect!

DAY 2

We woke up late so we missed our breakfast time, instead we went to one of the best crepe restaurant in Pairs.

Creperie de Josselin

Address: 67 Rue du Montparnasse, 75014, Paris

Nearby station: Edgar Quinet

We ordered one set menu €12:

Couple Complete (double pancake with egg, ham and cheese)

Couple Ssucisse, Fromage (double pancake with sausage and cheese)

Cider

The crepe is really filling, half of it makes you feel bit full already. The restaurant is very popular to local people and tourist, especially Japanese people

It is crispy and soft with the melted cheese. Everything's perfect when they match together.

Burning calories in the garden and head to our dinner meal

Le Bistrot Paul Bert

Address: 18, Rue Paul Bert, 75011, Paris

Nearby station: Charonne

Set dinner: Starter+Main+Dessert €38

Starter:

Escargot with pie crust

Fish sashimi with lemon sauce

Main: 

Baby pork with apricot seeds and salad potato

Squid with risotto

Dessert:

Souffle with alcohol

Strawberries with ice-cream on top

DAY 3

This morning we went out to museum, had a look of the exhibition of a Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten. After a walk in the museum, finding our way to the restaurant but  at the same time feeling to get something to munch, we found a bakery shop!! I searched all nice bakery shop the night before and we just accidentally bumped into it. 

        

Eric Kayser

Address: near Musee du Louvre

Pistachio pound cake

Croissant

Mini financiers (three flavours-original/chocolate/pistachio)

Lunch:

Paris London

Address:16 Place de la Madeleine, Paris

Nearby station: Madeleine

Croque Monsieur

Croque Madame

Coke

Cider

Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame are very similar to what we know as the french toast, the difference between these two is the egg.

They are toasted sandwiches with grilled ham and cheese (Croque Monsieur), and with fried egg or poached egg on top are known as Croque Madame.

It's really nice and to be honest, half a toast can make you full already:) 

Dinner

The cheese is just too filling, we didn't notice any sign of hunger and till 8pm, it's too late to try out another bakery shop, so our dinner...is going to be some supermarket meal deal package:) 

I love supermarkets. I am not sure this is the girl thing or it's just my own 'obsession' but i have few girl friends love wandering in megastores and spend hours in there.

From supermarket Monoprix:

Salad

Salmon tartare

Ham and Butter Sandwich

The salmon tartare and the sandwich are bonus to me because I do to expect it to be very delicious when it comes to a cheap price. But I am surprised that they are in quite delicious taste. The salmon tartare has a pinch of lemon juice and herbs with it, refreshing!

DAY 4

Even it's time for me rushing to pack all the stuff and to get on the coach on time, oh whatever, IT'S PARIS! we have decided to go continue our food hunt in Pigalle area. 

Arnaud DelMontel 

Address: 39 Rue Des Martys,75009, Paris

Nearby station: Pigalle 

This bakery has the best croissant and baguette in Paris (in a hurry so missing the chance to take the picture of it) . The shop has been in one of Gordon Ramsay's video and in recommendation of many people. 

Baguette

Croissant

Chocolate Eclair

Raspberry Panna Cotta

Lunch

Not far away, we have found our restaurant and that would be my last meal in Paris:( 

     

Buvette

Address: 28 Rue Henry Monnier, 75009, Paris

Nearby station: Pigalle

Roast chicken salad

Salted fish

Famous for its small plate dishes, 'buvette' in french is a word describing a laid-back place for eat and drink, no matter the time of the day. It's a small restaurant but to me, it's a hidden gem in Paris for real French bistro.

This restaurant is grounded with old things, chairs, chalk boards, rusty-looking decorations, brick walls...but with all these elements together, it is made to be a place for lazy lunch or a drop-in dinner.

Menu: I like their design, everything's look so french here, and you might be wondering where is the price. (shhh, let me tell you, it's the numbered list, yes, from 1 to 13)