Google Maps has misplaced the site of AA Milne’s Heffalump Trap in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex. Here’s how to get to the real tree and hollow from the Winnie the Pooh books.
What is the Heffalump Trap?
The Heffalump Trap in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, is a site that inspired AA Milne when writing the Winnie the Pooh books. It’s one of many real life spots in the Ashdown Forest Milne would visit with his son, Christopher Robin, that would inspire the beloved children’s books.
The Heffalump Trap, of course, was where heffalumps would be caught. In the books, there were six pine trees on the site. Today, there is only one.
Discovering Winnie the Pooh sites in Ashdown Forest
On 23 November 2025, I drove around Ashdown Forest, tracking down several of these Winnie the Pooh sites. I was researching them for an article I’m writing in relation to the 100th anniversary of the first Pooh book being published next year.
The Pooh Country website run by the Pooh Corner tea room and museum in Hartfield is really helpful for planning such a mission.
Most of these sites – the Enchanted Place, Roo’s Sandy Pit, the AA Milne Memorial, Pooh’s House and the Pooh Sticks Bridge – were easy to find. But I had difficulty tracking down the Heffalump Trap.
So, I’m writing this guide for anyone who has the same problem.
Buy the Winnie the Pooh books
It makes sense to read the Winnie The Pooh books before you visit. You can buy them on Amazon, of course. But I personally use and recommend World of Books, which sells second hand books a lot cheaper.
I get a small commission from anything bought through those links. Admittedly, it’s a smaller commission from World of Books, but I’d still go through them as first choice.
Gills Lap and the Enchanted Place
The Heffalump Trap is best combined with the Enchanted Place, AA Milne Memorial and Roo’s Sandy Pit on a short (but squelchy) 0.6 mile/ 1km walk from the Gills Lap car park. If driving, this is off the B2026 (Chuck Hatch Road), roughly two miles south of Hartfield.
The main trail takes you to Gills Lap, a clump of pine trees that AA Milne turned into Galleons Lap, or the Enchanted Place. It’s where Christopher Robin has his last conversation with Winnie the Pooh.
Gills Lap is easy to spot, as there’s a big wooden sign outside it, saying: “I’m rumbly in my tumbly. Time for something sweet.”
Walking to the Heffalump Trap
However, there is no such sign for the Heffalump Trap. And, crucially, Google Maps has the Heffalump Trap marked in the wrong place. It’s only slightly wrong, but you’ll end up down the wrong path, slightly to the south of Gills Lap.
To walk to the Heffalump Trap, start at the wooden Gills Lap signpost and look towards the main path you just walked along from the car part. Directly on the other side of the main path is a smaller path, heading towards the valley. There are bushes next to it, and what looks like the canopy from another cluster of trees. This is the path you need to take.
That cluster of trees is actually just one tree with its branches spread wide. It stands in a hollow near the edge of the ridge line, and that hollow is the Heffalump Trap. It’s about 100 metres from the main path, but deceptive if you’re looking for a single pine tree, or following Google Maps.
Things to do near Hartfield
Other attractions relatively near Hartfield include Eridge Rocks, Hever Castle and Sir Winston Churchill’s former home, Chartwell.
Elsewhere in Sussex, you can try Norman Conquest history at Battle Abbey, beach time at Camber Sands and medieval architecture at Bodiam Castle.
