Portraits of Pooh - young artists at Ashdown Forest put paint to paper

The Ashdown Park Hotel and Ashdown Forest joined forces to invite children from eight schools to create a portrait of Winnie the Pooh in any natural setting.

The winner was ten-year-old Eloise Child from Nutley CE Primary School. Eloise’s picture imagined Pooh in a woodland setting complete with flowers, insects and toadstools.

The judges liked Eloise’s picture because of the amount of wildlife that she packed into the picture. Butterflies, dragonflies, fungi and wildflowers surround a smiling Pooh. Eloise has captured how Pooh is part of the natural world and many of the species that make Ashdown Forest their home.

Ashdown Park Hotel and Country Club, Sales & Marketing Manager Tina Bricknell said: “We were truly amazed by the children’s remarkable dedication to this marvellous competition. It is that our community harbours a profound affection for Winnie the Pooh and Ashdown Forest. Judging day presented its fair share of challenges, but undoubtedly, it was an absolute pleasure. We would like to thank all the schools who got involved with the competition.”

Ashdown Forest Countryside Manager Ash Walmsley said: “We were very impressed with the standard of art work. The young artists gave the judges a very tough job. It was wonderful to see how Winnie the Pooh fired the imagination of the children and how the Forest inspired so many of the settings they created. Winnie the Pooh and his friends can play a vital in reconnecting people, of every age, to this very special landscape.”

Eloise has won tickets for her and her family to attend the live show at the Theatre Royal in Brighton and a special tea at the Ashdown Forest Park Hotel.

She, along with 19 other children, have won copies of the Winnie-the-Pooh prequel “Once There Was a Bear” by Jane Riordan and published by Farshore for their art work, and their portraits will be displayed in a special exhibition at the Forest Centre.

The Winnie the Pooh Live show had its UK press launch in the Forest back in March when members of the cast visited Pooh Bridge and other landscapes associated with the characters from the A.A Milne and E.H. Shepard books. Since then, the show which features life size puppetry of characters including Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore, has been on tour across the UK and will be playing in Brighton from June 23 – June 25.

Ash added: “In October 2026 we will be marking 100 years since the publication of the original Pooh stories and the little bear’s arrival at the Hundred Acre Wood. We are already working with a number of organisations including Disney to explore what the centenary could look like. Children will be central to the celebrations and our art competition has demonstrated how Winnie-the-Pooh still has the power to connect visitors from around the world to Ashdown Forest, its natural beauty and our need to care for the Forest.”