TheHundred Acre Wood (also spelled as100 Aker Wood,Hundred-Acre Wood, and100 Acre Wood; also known as simply "The Wood") is a part of the fictional land inhabited byWinnie-the-Pooh and his friends in the Winnie-the-Pooh series of children's stories by authorA. A. Milne. The wood is visited regularly by the young boyChristopher Robin, who accompanies Pooh and company on their many adventures.
In A. A. Milne's books, the term "Hundred Acre Wood" is actually used for a specific part of the larger Forest, centred on Owl's house (see the map in the book, as well as numerous references in the text to the characters going "into" or "out of" the Hundred Acre Wood as they go between Owl's house and other Forest locations). However, in the Pooh movies, and in general conversation with most Pooh fans, "The Hundred Acre Wood" is used for the entire world of Winnie-the-Pooh, the Forest and all the places it contains.
The Hundred Acre Wood of theWinnie-the-Pooh stories was inspired by Five Hundred Acre Wood inAshdown Forest inEast Sussex,England.[1][2][3][4][5][6] A. A. Milne's country home atCotchford Farm,Hartfield was situated north of Ashdown Forest, andFive Hundred Acre Wood is a dense beech wood thatChristopher Robin Milne would explore on his way from Cotchford Farm onto the Forest. Five Hundred Acre Wood is long-established, having been originally sold off from the Forest in 1678. The wood is part of theBuckhurst Park estate,[7] is privately owned, and is not therefore accessible to the public. Two footpaths, including theWealdway, cross through the wood and are available for public use.
Milne was inspired by the landscape of Ashdown Forest to use it as the setting for his Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and many features from the stories can be identified with specific locations in the forest. The car park at the hilltop of Gills Lap (the Galleon's Lap of the Pooh stories) in Ashdown Forest, (grid referenceTQ 467 315), contains a display panel with a map of the surrounding area and the features from several of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories marked on it. Five Hundred Acre Wood lies a short distance to the north-east, while the "Enchanted Place" is a small wooded area 660 feet (200 m) to the north. A memorial plaque dedicated to A. A. Milne and his illustrator,Ernest H. Shepard, lies 330 feet (100 m) away. Five Hundred Acre Wood lies a short distance to the north-east.
InWinnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood suffer from a famine shortly after Christopher Robin leaves for college. Pooh, Piglet, Owl and Rabbit consume Eeyore to survive, although the trauma causes them to revert to their animalistic instincts and develop a hatred towards Christopher and the rest of humanity.[16][17][18][19][20] They begin committing murderous acts towards anyone who stumbles upon the woods.
InWinnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (2024), the Hundred Acre Wood makes a return, while also highlighting the origins of Pooh and his friends. They are revealed to be kidnapped children who were experimented on by a mad scientist before having their bodies buried in the woods, only for them to resurrect as feral creatures.
