In Winter Burrow, meeting Aunty is one of the first big milestones. She unlocks key recipes, gives you access to the basement, and kicks off the story that eventually leads to Bufo and the rest of the cast. The problem: the game only hints that she lives “east, across the bridge”, and that bridge is broken when you first step outside.
Winter burrow find aunty: where she actually is
Aunty’s burrow is directly east of your home, just past a single repairable bridge. You never have to cross any other zones or squeeze through hidden paths to reach her the first time.
From your own burrow door:
| Step | What to do | What you should see |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Exit your burrow and walk straight right (east). | Snowy ground with a wide “leaf path” laid out ahead of you. |
| 2 | Keep going until the leaf path splits. | One fork of leaves curves up, the other fork stays lower and continues right. |
| 3 | Take the lower leaf path that heads further right. | The upper path leads into a different area; ignore it for now. |
| 4 | Follow that lower path until it ends. | You arrive at a broken wooden bridge over water. |
| 5 | Repair the bridge (details below), then cross it. | A small clearing with Aunty’s burrow entrance on the far side. |
Once the bridge is rebuilt, you can walk to Aunty at any time in a single in‑game “trip” from home, as long as you’re dressed warmly enough to handle the cold.
What you need to repair the bridge to Aunty
The bridge is the only real gate between you and Aunty. To fix it, you must bring crafted building materials, not raw branches and fiber.
| Material | Amount | How you get it | Where you craft it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beech Plank | 5 | Turn beech branches into planks once you’ve unlocked plank crafting. | Woodworking Workbench in your burrow. |
| Flax Rope | 5 | Spin flax fibre into yarn, then into rope after you unlock the rope recipe. | Same workbench or crafting table in your burrow. |
When you interact with the broken bridge while carrying at least 5 Beech Planks and 5 Flax Rope, your mouse will automatically consume the items and rebuild it. There’s no separate mini‑game or placement step.
How to unlock Beech Planks and Flax Rope early on
If you haven’t played far enough to turn branches into planks or fibre into rope, you need to finish a few of the “get settled in” tasks inside your burrow first. Those early quests quietly unlock the recipes you need for the bridge.
| Goal | Key materials | Why it matters for the bridge |
|---|---|---|
| Repair your fireplace and light a fire | Sticks and twigs around your home | Lets you safely spend evenings crafting without freezing. |
| Craft the Sandstone Axe | Twig, Pebble, Flax Fiber found near your burrow | Allows you to chop beech branches and tall flax plants efficiently. |
| Build a simple bed | Twigs, Flax Fiber, Beech Wood | Completing this quest unlocks plank crafting at your workbench. |
| Fix the Dusty Armchair | Beech Planks, Twigs, Flax Fiber | Finishing this unlocks clothing recipes like the Linen Coat. |
| Knit a Linen Coat | Flax Yarn made from Flax Fiber | Improves cold resistance and unlocks the Flax Rope recipe. |
Once the Flax Rope recipe is available, you can turn your stockpile of flax into rope at the crafting table, then turn extra beech branches into planks. After that, the bridge is just a resource check.
Efficient farming route for bridge materials
Bridge repair is often the first time the game asks for more processed items than you happen to be carrying. You can cut down the grind with a loop directly around your burrow.
| Loop segment | Direction from burrow | What to gather |
|---|---|---|
| Flax run | South of your burrow | Use the axe on tall flax plants for lots of Flax Fiber. |
| Beech run | Right/east and slightly north of home | Chop thick brown beech branches for Beech Wood. |
| Top‑up pass | Any direction with remaining plants | Grab stray twigs and pebbles for future tools while you’re out. |
Between each short outing, head back inside to warm up, sleep if needed, and convert everything at the Woodworking Workbench:
- Craft enough Beech Planks first (bridge plus leftover for furniture).
- Convert Flax Fiber to yarn where required, then into Flax Rope.
Once you hit 5 planks and 5 ropes in your inventory, you’re ready to walk east to the bridge and repair it in a single interaction.
What happens after you find Aunty
Crossing the repaired bridge and talking to Aunty unlocks a series of early progression steps that the main story expects you to follow.
| Visit | What Aunty gives you | What you do next |
|---|---|---|
| First visit | Key to your basement and a shoe recipe. | Go home, unlock the basement, and start interacting with the lower level. |
| Early follow‑up | Mushroom seeds to plant in the basement. | Plant and water the seeds in the accessible top part of the basement, then report back. |
| Later lessons | Additional crafting recipes, including the basic shovel. | Use these tools to start interacting with icy mounds and dig spots outside. |
It’s easy to assume you have to fully restore the basement or find granite before planting mushrooms. You don’t. The game lets you plant those first seeds in the front section of the basement, well before you unlock the lower stairs or get any upgraded pickaxes.
How Aunty connects to Bufo and “chasing the owl”
Finding Aunty is not just a cosy side errand: it’s the starting point for the main conflict of Winter Burrow. Once you’ve:
- Repaired the bridge and met her,
- Unlocked the basement and planted the first mushrooms,
- Learned the shovel recipe and brought a working shovel back to her,
A cutscene plays where the owl intervenes. After that, your quest log shifts toward “Chase the Owl” and pushes you past Aunty’s area into the wider map.
From Aunty’s clearing, you keep moving right and then angle northwest into the Gnarled Oaks region, where you meet Bufo and, later, head north into Shadow Pines to find the squirrel Gnawtusk. Those later characters handle the progression for pickaxes, flint, granite tools, and light sources, but they all sit behind that initial step: winter burrow find aunty, repair the bridge, and complete her early lessons.
Once you treat Aunty as the first “gate” and the bridge as a simple materials check, the rest of the game’s structure makes more sense: return home to craft, return to Aunty for the next lesson, and only then chase the owl into the colder, more dangerous corners of the forest.
