On the Real Watership Down
O Frith on the Hills!
‘Now all this time, El-ahrairah was dancing and mating and boasting that he was going to Frith’s meeting to receive a great gift. And at last he set out for the meeting-place. But as he was going there, he stopped to rest on a soft, sandy hillside. And while he was resting, over the hill came flying the dark Swift, screaming as he went,” News! News! News!” For you know, this is what he has said ever since that day. So El-ahrairah called up to him and said, “What news?”
“Why,” said the Swift, “I would not be you, El-ahrairah. For Frith has given the fox and the weasel cunning hearts and sharp teeth and to the cat he has given silent feet and eyes that can see in the dark and they are gone away from Frith’s place to kill and devour all that belongs to El-ahrairah.” And he dashed on over the hills. And at that moment El-ahrairah heard the voice of Frith calling, “Where is El-ahrairah? For all the others have taken their gifts and gone and I have come to look for him.”
Chapter Six—The Blessing of El-ahrairah
Sandleford Park: The Woods
The walk from the Sandleford Warren site to the site of the River Enborne crossing is one of my favourites across the entire Watership Down landscape. It was a route I followed again in late February 2026.
It was a largely uneventful stroll but reminded me of a niggling detail that had previously come to light last summer: it is slightly challenging to reconcile Richard Adams’ description of where the rabbits enter the woods in relation to the current geographical reality.
Cannon Heath and Watership: February 2026
Cannon Heath Down and Watership Down: February 2026Sunday 22nd February 2026Whilst compiling this entry I decided to look at a 1968 land usage survey from Ordnance Survey. The overgrown combe where General Woundwort assembled his Efrafans prior to the assault on...
Herbert Plantation: Not Newtown Common
On the second night of their journey away from Sandleford Warren, Hazel’s rabbits make their way through the trees, craters, heather and heathland of Newtown Common in northern Hampshire. After an exhausting, tense and troubled night, they finally emerge into open fields close to High Wood and the surroundings of Cowslip’s snared warren.
Greenham Common: Part One
Looking north from the top of Watership Down, up and over Nuthanger Farm, the most noticeable feature in the middle distance is a sizable cluster of light coloured industrial units some four miles away. These modern structures were not present when Richard Adams wrote Watership Down. Instead, the buildings that previously stood on the site were enclosed behind security fencing and barbed wire. They served as the main accommodation, technical and administrative units for United States Air Force (USAF) personnel on the southern flank of the infamous RAF Greenham Common airbase.
Watership Down: January 2026
I don’t usually make it up onto Watership Down during the first few months of the year. The conditions on the Down can be brutal; the freezing wind cuts through your clothes and the rain, should it arrive, never lets up until you are soaked and bitterly cold.
The 1978 Film: Folk Horror?
Until the five years or so I had always viewed Watership Down and Penda’s Fen exclusively as unsettling adventure and coming-of-age dramas respectively, each set within their own very powerful rural landscapes. However, since around 2020 I’ve become increasingly aware of both films being picked up as examples of the folk horror movie genre.
Shepherd’s Cottage and Richard Adams
As late autumn drew in at the end of 2024, the shortening daylight, rain and blustery wind meant that my visits to Watership Down became less frequent than I wished. Sometimes I would do no more than drive down the lane that cuts into the Down’s western slope before heading on north towards Burghclere.
The Northern Edge of Caesar’s Belt
My destination is where the treeline meets with the Cole Henley Road, not too far south of Cannon Heath Farm. It was just to the east of there that Holly and the other emissaries to Efrafa crossed on their way south. Whilst I’m not going that far, I will find my way to the spinney where the rabbits listen to Dandelion tell the story of El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé.
Back to the Great Arch
Of all the man-made features within Watership Down, I am always most drawn to the Great Arch, the railway underbridge west of Overton and south of Efrafa. My recollections of it stretch back 47 years to the time I first saw the film at the cinema. I was fascinated by the arch’s red bricks and the train tracks it supported. That was enough for me, though I liked it that the bad rabbit got jumped by the bird here as well.