On the Real Watership Down
The Copse Where the Fox Struck
Exhausted after the raid on Efrafa, the rabbits ignore Blackavar’s advice and decide to rest in a small copse near Cole Henley.
After two or three days of slow, careful journeying, with many halts in cover, they found themselves, late one afternoon, once more in sight of Caesar’s Belt, but further west than before, close to a little copse at the top of some rising ground.
Everyone was tired and when they had fed—‘Evening silflay every day, just as you promised,’ said Hyzenthlay to Bigwig—Bluebell and Speedwell suggested that it might be worthwhile to dig some scrapes in the light soil under the trees and live there for a day or two. Hazel felt willing enough, but Fiver needed persuasion.
Chapter Forty —The Way Back.
Heading slowly on towards Watership Down from the River Test at Laverstoke, the weary rabbits take shelter in a small copse south of Caesar’s Belt. Scrapes are dug to provide shelter, but Efrafan escapee Blackavar is against the idea, pleading this area is ‘fox country’. Hazel reasons with Blackavar, stating, ‘I think you’re probably right and there is a certain amount of risk. But we’re at risk all the time until we get back to our warren and everyone’s so tired that I think we might just as well stop here for a day or two.’
With his superior knowledge of the area from Efrafan patrols, Blackavar is right to be cautious. On the second morning of rest, a fox strikes among the group, taking an unnamed doe by her neck. Aware that their position is now compromised, the rabbits resume their journey, heading north east up the southern side of Caesar’s Belt. (Chapter Forty, The Way Back)
This is another location, like Newtown Common and Lower Bridge before it, that do not feature in the 1978 film.
Dunn’s Wood. Caesar’s Belt is the first line of tall trees to the left of the copse. In the distance are the spinney and combe.
The real copse Adams sets this part of the story in is Dunn’s Wood, a small but prominent area of trees on a hilltop close to Cole Henley. It is sandwiched at the midpoint between the Cole Henley to Kingsclere road, and the long, narrow lane that runs through Ashley Warren and down to the Sydmonton crossroads. As a reminder to where you are, the famous line of overhead power cables and their supporting pylons are prominent features on the landscape.
There is no public access to Dunn’s Wood but I was able to take some photos and launch my drone by parking up on the lane towards Ashley Warren. I chose the little pull-in where Caesar’s Belt crosses the lane. If fancy takes you, it’s possible to follow the bridleway uphill to the spinney where Bigwig earlier lured the same fox onto an Efrafan patrol led by Captain Mallow.
Gallery
The copse seen from where Caesar’s Belt crosses the lane to Ashley Warren.
The view north-east along Caesar’s Belt from the side of the lane.
