November 13, 1968 – Rolling Stone Brian Jones purchased “Cotchford Farm” in Sussex, England

NOVEMBER 13, 1968 – Rolling Stone Brian Jones purchased “Cotchford Farm” in Sussex, England. “Winnie The Pooh” author A.A. Milne had formerly owned the house, the childhood home of the real Christopher Robin, Milne’s own son. The manor was to become Jones’ final residence, as less than a year later, his lifeless body would be discovered in July 1969 floating face down in the estate’s enormous swimming pool. The pool still remains, as do the panes of colored glass he installed inside the house. A pink fluorescent light tube that he put in one of the bathrooms is still working after all these years.
As for Pooh-abilia, there is a statue in the garden of a be-smocked Christopher Robin. There is also a sundial commissioned by Christopher’s mother, Daphne. Frolicking around its base is a whole cavalcade of characters, from Owl to Piglet and Tigger to Kanga. They are still recognizable despite a thick layer of moss. Meanwhile, engraved on the dial itself, is the legend: “This warm and sunny spot belongs to Pooh, And here he wonders what it’s time to do.” As for Christopher Robin Milne, he may have enjoyed an idyllic childhood, but was teased in later life because of his father’s writings. His ongoing antipathy towards his childhood home was confirmed in 1976, when Alastair Johns, a property developer who bought the place in 1970, invited him to come and visit the house during the course of a nearby Teddy Bears’ Picnic event. “We got a most vitriolic letter back,” recalls Alastair. “He said that if we thought he was going to go back on his promise never to set foot across the threshold here again, then we were very much mistaken.”Alastair Johns’ company (Alastair Cresswell Harrow Johns) still owns the deed and is represented by his Edglade Properties Ltd. real estate firm. Here are a few cool links concerning the estate in descending order with the most recent at the top: