On the Real Watership Down
Nuthanger Farm
Hazel leads an audacious raid to free hutched does from the farm under Watership Down.
Nuthanger is like a farm in an old tale. Between Ecchinswell and the foot of Watership Down and about half a mile from each, there is a broad knoll, steeper on the north side but falling gently on the south—like the down ridge itself. Narrow lanes climb both slopes and come together in a great ring of elm trees which encircles the flat summit. Any wind—even the lightest—draws from the height of the elms a rushing sound, multifoliate and powerful.
Within this ring stands the farmhouse, with its barns and out-buildings. The house may be two hundred years old or it may be older, built of brick, with a stone-faced front looking south towards the down. On the east side, in front of the house, a barn stands clear of the ground on staddle-stones; and opposite is the cow-byre.
Chapter Twenty Four —Nuthanger Farm.
There are few real world locations from Watership Down that are as pleasing to see as Nuthanger Farm. Richard Adams’ beautifully descriptive prose gives the reader an accurate vision of the farm complex, whilst the film renders the site with surprising accuracy. If you’ve been there in the novel or movie, you really have been there in real life. It all seems so wonderfully familiar.
It was here, at Nuthanger Farm, that Hazel first made contact with a group of hutched rabbits (Chapter Twelve, Nuthanger Farm) whom he helped free before being shot (Chapter Fifteen, The Raid). Then, as the book reaches its climax in Chapters Forty Five, Nuthanger Farm Again and Forty Seven, The Sky Suspended, Hazel unleashes Bob the dog to pursue Dandelion and Blackberry to the top of Watership Down.
Entering Nuthanger Farm … A rabbit’s eye view.
Nuthanger Farm at night. Not a bad representation of the real place at all!
You may notice that the external appearance of the building today is slightly different to that from the film. The 2025 version is all red brick, whilst the movie’s farm has a cold grey facade. Even so, the animated version of the farm is correct for the time; the following section from a 1974 BBC literature programme sees Richard Adams interviewed outside an unoccupied Nuthanger Farm around the time it was purchased as a second home by high court judge Michael Fox:
Arguably more memorable than the farm building itself, at least when it comes to the film, is the little outbuilding where Bob was tethered to his kennel. This structure is elevated from the ground by staddle stones (supports resembling oversized stone mushrooms) and it was under here that Hazel, Dandelion and Blackberry fled after their raid on the farm to release Haystack, Clover and the other hutched rabbits. In the novel, Adams refers to this building as a barn, but in reality it was a granary used to store grain. Being raised, its contents would be better protected from pests and any flooding.
Opposite the granary was the old cow shed (byre). When Chris Boyce visited in 1984 it was in desperate need of some care, as was its immediate neighbour. At some point these separate sheds were replaced by one large structure, though its appearance is sympathetic to its surroundings. Another small shed, which features on the far right of the film’s closing still, and is situated just outside of the farm gate, appears to be in need of restoration or demolition. It certainly no longer looks safe.
There are also some buildings at Nuthanger that feature in the novel (Chapter Twenty Five, The Raid) but are no longer standing: the sheds down the lane that leads to the Kingsclere-Old Burghclere road. Here, Pipkin and Hazel sheltered from the rain following their initial visit to the farm, eating swedes and mangels and falling asleep in a thick straw pile. Poring over a 1945-1946 Ordnance Survey map, I found they had once belonged to another farmstead, Hill Field Farm, which shared the lane. Sadly, there appears to be no remaining trace of this site.
Something else that seems to be missing is a sign indicating that Nuthanger Farm is at the end of the lane. If there ever was one, I imagine it was disappeared to become a collector’s item. Instead, we have to make do with a plain wooden post upon which the Watership Down Trail marker is attached.
Please note that Nuthanger Farm is a private residence.
Gallery
Looking south to Watership Down from behind Nuthanger Farm. The field to the left is where Hazel was shot.
A view to Watership Down taken just past the farm gate.
Exactly what it says on the sign.
A better look at the staddle stones.
The foot of the lane from Nuthanger Farm.
