What's going for it? This is where Winnie-the-Pooh (still) lives. Enough said. I'm there. AA Milne moved Christopher Robin, nanny et al to Cotchford Farmhouse outside Hartfield in 1924. Ninety years later you can still see why. Trails suggest inspirations for Pooh Sticks Bridge and the like, but tourism is mostly kept in check. Norman lords enclosed the land to hunt boar and deer. Hamlets and villages like Chuck Hatch still keep to the fringes, leaving a vast space whose peace and lack of inhabitants seem odd for south-east England. This is the high point of the Weald, which, you'll remember from geography lessons, is the crumbled apex of the chalk arch that forms the North and South Downs. Hills swoop one way and the other; turn a corner and there's a view for miles. The forest itself is a mangy affair, mostly more scrubby heath than canopy. It's less the interwar idyll hankered after by Milne and the stockbrokers who followed him, and actually one of Britain's earliest industrial sites, a hotbed of Tudor iron smelting. Ironworks were prettier back then.
The case against Not that affordable. Winnie was quite the plutocrat: all that honey costs money. The A26 crawls through Crowborough.
Well connected? Trains: hourly from Crowborough to London Bridge (64 mins) or Uckfield (14 mins); half-hourly from East Grinstead to Victoria (55 mins). By car: 45 mins to Brighton or Eastbourne; 40 mins to the M23/Gatwick; 10 mins to Tunbridge Wells.
Schools Primaries: St John's CofE, Whitehill, St Mary's RC, Jarvis Brook, St Michael's Withyham, Nutley CofE, Bonners CofE in Maresfield, Buxted CofE, High Hurstwood CofE are all "good", says Ofsted, with Groombridge St Thomas CofE and Danehill "outstanding". Secondaries: Beacon Academy and Grove Park are both "good".
Hang out at… Piglet's Tearoom at Hartfield for hunny and crumpets. Or the Red Lion at Chelwood Gate.
Where to buy The area is heavy with wisteria-hung Edwardian/interwar piles, cottages and gen-u-wine cricket on gen-u-wine village greens. Crowborough retains its villagey heart and nice (expensive) suburbs like the Warren. Try Hartfield, Forest Row and Groombridge.
Market values Large detacheds, £550,000-£2.75m. Detacheds, £300,000-£650,000. Semis, £250,000-£650,000. Terraces and cottages, £230,000-£370,000. Rentals: one-bed flats, £600pcm; three-bed house, £1,200-£1,700pcm.
Bargain of the week Three-bed semi in Crowborough, £235,000, with freemanforman.co.uk.
From the streets
Melvin Lomas "Crowborough is ideal if you like the outdoors. It has lovely walks, a thriving cycle club, and it's just a mile from Ashdown Forest. Rock climbing at Bowles, Eridge and Harrison's rocks is popular with Londoners and locals alike."
Mary Franck "I moved to Ashdown Forest last summer and it is a very special place. Forest Row has all you could need or want, including organic produce at Season's and Tablehurst Farm and the best coffee/food around at Java & Jazz."
• Live in Crowborough and the Ashdown Forest? Join the debate below.
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