Part One — In which Ned and Nell build the new(ish) Lego Ideas Winnie-the-Pooh tree house set (#21326)
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fly can’t bird, but a bird can fly.
It’s very easy to take Winnie-the-Pooh for granted. One way or another, the ‘Bear of Little Brain’ seems to be a constant presence in all our lives (particularly in his Disney incarnation). But it’s worth taking the time to remind yourself just how good the original books are.
From the surreal majesty of ‘Cottleston Pie’ to the heartbreaking conclusion of the final Pooh story — ‘In Which Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place and We Leave Them There’ (which is, somehow, simultaneously utterly devastating and incredibly comforting to the parents of growing children)— these books are a constant source of wonder and delight. They are beautifully written, heart-warming tales, which are poignant and cosy, but at the same time challenging — both thematically and also in literary terms. Above all, they are very, very funny.
Pooh also holds a special place in our brick-built hearts. We gave Ned the original DUPLO Winnie-the-Pooh house (set #5947) on his first day at school. He eventually passed it on to Nell, and the figures have been a fixture in our house ever since.
We were, therefore, just a little bit excited when LEGO announced that they were bringing out a new Winnie-the-Pooh set last year.
It is based on a design submitted to Lego Ideas (https://ideas.lego.com/projects/10bb8393-016a-428f-a4ea-ed664f7ded0a) by British AFOL Ben Alder (@benalder1 on Instagram):
We saved up our VIP points at www.lego.com and were lucky enough to be able to buy the new set shortly after it was released in April 2021.
I’m pleased to report that the LEGO House At Pooh Corner doesn’t disappoint on any level. It is an exquisite little build, which perfectly incapsulates the whimsical charm and humour of the source material. Even the packaging is beautiful, and the building instructions are a work of art:
The set is rich in elegant detail. It is centred around a small cottage set in the roots of a tree. Everywhere you look there are references to the original stories and masterful E.H. Shepherd illustrations: a flurry of fallen leaves on the rooftop; Pooh sticks in the eves; bees swarming around hives and honey pots, and a door bell bearing the legend ‘rnig also’.
Best of all, there are also five new bespoke minifigures:
But the crowning glory of the set are the six branches of the tree — each made up of individual leaves (in four clusters of three) on posable hinge joints — which are connected to the main trunk by means of LEGO Technic ball joint pins.
Ned (who was 12 at the time) did the lion’s share of the building — aided and abetted by his little sister (six year old Nell) — and it took them about four and a half hours. It’s a tricky little build at times, but well worth the effort. At £89.99 it’s by no means cheap, but ultimately I think this represents good value for money. This set and the time we spent building and playing with it will — I hope — live long in the children’s memories (just like the stories that inspired it):
‘Wherever they go and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place . . . [@a_lego_dad and @some_lego_children] . . . will always be playing’.
