On the Real Watership Down
The Field Beyond
Across the lane from the ‘great field’ under Watership Down.
They crossed the field easily enough, Dandelion running ahead. The only alarm came when they startled four partridges, which whirred away over the hedge to the west and sailed down, spread-winged, into the field beyond.
Soon they reached the road and Hazel halted among the quickset on top of the nearer bank.
Chapter Forty Five—Nuthanger Farm Again
In Chapter Forty Five, Nuthanger Farm Again, Hazel, Dandelion and Blackberry cross the ‘great field’:
‘They crossed the field easily enough, Dandelion running ahead. The only alarm came when they startled four partridges, which whirred away over the hedge to the west and sailed down, spread-winged, into the field beyond.’
Just west of the ‘great field’ under Watership Down, across the lane between Sydmonton Crossroads and Cole Henley, are two neighbouring fields. Either of these could be the ‘field beyond’.
The sun goes down over the fields across the lane from the ‘great field’.
The gateway into the southern field has become a favourite place for me to stop if I am passing. It is an ideal location to look up to the ridge between Watership Down and Hare Warren Down, or look for wildlife in the neighbouring fields. It is quiet, calm and extremely picturesque under the escarpment.
I was parked up on one hot Saturday afternoon in August 2025 when a blinding shower of dust and grit seemed to have been thrown through my open car window. I got out, cleared my eyes and saw a dust-devil gradually winding down in the southern field. It had come from the ‘great field’, over the road and over my vehicle, though it had lost a fair amount of its strength before I was able to take a photograph on my phone. I watched it go almost all the way to the western end of the field before it dissolved.
