Needing to think about something else, read about East Grinstead and Ashdown Forest because Forest Row is a place know well but there are more beautiful woods and normally drive past the turn off and on to Groombridge and Penshurst Place.
Heard about Scientology, Tom Cruise, Queen Vic Burns Unit and Winnie the Pooh but didn’t know also famous for Maharajas, witches and Ley lines. Closeness to Gatwick Airport seems to have a lot to do with it.
Already knew about the reputation of the Burns Hospital which looked after people with major burns from World Wars. they are also experts to do with teeth accidents and my Dad drove us past the Scientology building – a big complex centered around an old building, well fenced – close to the local Airport. Wondered if Tom Cruise didn’t go crazy with traffic – inching in and out of East Grinstead and hoped he’d visit somewhere more beautiful. Even John Travolta has been to E.G. and tried unsuccessfully to book a table at local fast food restaurant, it seems.
Have been to the markets at the Rudolf Steiner School in Forest Row – love the place. Think the children at this school following these ideas without pressure from exams in the same way as conventional schools are creative, thoughtful and calm. The markets are bohemian and people of all ages that pass through are some of the nicest have met. Maybe a little unusual but in a good way.
Didn’t know the forests were a gathering place for witches but like everyone knew about Pooh Corner at Hartfield the ‘home’ of Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. This very small village has cricket green, pub, few old fashioned buildings and gift shop but avoiding these drive away into the forests around and you will find the landmarks from the book including the tall pine trees with a few branches on high up and Pooh Sticks bridge. This is where did feel spooked even on a summer afternoon and we almost got lost in the small lanes.
In Forest Row here is a bakery supplied by Infinity Foods,, quirky art studios, garden center with 1000s of beautiful roses, large Coop at the petrol station (must have been hungry) and statues in the woods and not far away (told by my Dad) the home and maybe farm of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan – who was visited by J..F. Kennedy in July 1963 – a few months before his fateful end. A brief visit – mainly to visit the local Catholic church.
But own best memory of Forest Row is being collected by my Dad from the market as had broken a bone in my foot and couldn’t drive and him telling me about things as we drove home and after he had gone an old man coming over to talk to me at same market – wearing a raincoat like he used to – that looked little like him.
sunnypolarbear 