Winnie the Pooh as you've never imagined him - reincarnated as a human being, as Bertie; still writing poetry, still fond of honey.

Piglet has become Peggy, Bertie's timid neighbor who sees danger round every corner. Initially intimidated by a newcomer to the village, a flamboyant actor known as Bouncer, might she eventually find in him someone to whom she can confide?

Bouncer lodges with Sheila, a single Mum from Australia with an obsessive devotion to her small son, Joey, and with a tendency to call a wallaby a bloody wallaby.

None of them, however, are remotely aware of their 'past lives, ' not even the learned Professor who lives alone at The Cedars and chairs the local History Society.

All of them live in the village of Hartfield - the former home of A.A.Milne - on the edge of the Ashdown Forest. So, too, does Bunny - no longer a rabbit, but the formidable and optimistic organizer of an Action Group to fight a proposed bypass across their beloved forest. Only the retired Major, a gloomy recluse who lives alone in a rundown cottage on the edge of the village, thinks that their protests are doomed to failure.

As the saga unfolds, these members of Bunny's Action Group begin to learn a lot more, not only about conservation, politics and ecology, but also about one another. And each of them, in their own way, also begin to make a connection to Bertie's interest in what he calls 'a bigger picture.'

Meanwhile could a very small inhabitant of the forest itself become a surprising ally?

Underpinning the 'not in our backyard' story is the question of 'progress' versus the need for a human scale and a gentler pace to life, while protecting a unique, beloved, ancient woodland. The book touches lightly on the themes of life, death, nature, the human spirit and meaning.

As a BAFTA-winning filmmaker, Jonathan Stedall writes from a deep awareness of our interconnectedness with nature and the world.