In his introductory note to the 1972 novel Watership Down, Richard Adams advises the reader that all of the locations featured in its pages are real places in a small geographical area of of southern England. From the country parkland of Sandleford Warren in West Berkshire, and over the River Enborne into Hampshire where the bulk of the story takes place, the likes of the Newtown Common, the River Test, and, of course, Watership Down itself are all natural features you can aspire to visit. Barring a few demolished agricultural sheds and some altered field boundaries and drainage systems, the book’s man made features remain intact and can also be seen from varying distances, including Nuthanger Farm, the railway line and the meeting point of the two footpaths that form the Crixa within the centre of Woundwort’s Efrafa.

The layout of the major roads in the area means it is easiest to picture the setting of Watership Down as a right-pointing triangle ▶ some eleven miles in height, albeit with a redundant lower-right portion. The northernmost vertex is the town of Newbury, where the story opens, whilst its base is the B3400 road running eastwards from Whitchurch to the nearside of Basingstoke in Hampshire. The eastern perimeter follows the A34 between Newbury and Whitchurch, whilst the final side roughly follows the Newbury to Basingstoke stretch of the A339.

Contained inside the triangle are three very distinct landscapes, conveniently arranged from north to south. The first is the Sandleford Park estate where the southern extremes of Newbury press up against what Adams described as ‘a tract of open country a mile square, with woods, meadows and a brook.’ Next, the woodlands and heathlands of Newtown Common, an area punctuated by gorse bushes, heather, thick undergrowth and an ever-present carpet of fallen leaves. Finally, the rolling hills of the North Wessex Downs where most of the book unfolds. This is the site of the real Watership Down, part of a ridge that dominates the view to the south between the villages of Kingsclere and Old Burghclere. It is a landscape speckled with the archetypal copses, footpaths, country houses, chalk streams, mill ponds and barns of southern England’s downlands.

The overall geography framed by Adams is accurate, though some details have been omitted. These tend to be inconveniently sited buildings or roads, though I don’t find their exclusion to be troublesome.

My own opinion is that it is the 1978 movie that has done much more than the book to embed a specific vision of Watership Down and its surrounds in our minds. It is one based on reality—its animators were not working blind, having visited many of the locations they would reproduce—albeit laced with exaggeration and alterations for dramatic effect. The film widens the narrow rivers Test and Enborne to increase the rabbits’ peril, as well as amplifying Watership Down’s height and dominant position in the landscape to morph it into an imposing sanctuary topped by a single tree. 

Time has also brought change. The warren area in Sandleford Park has acquired a rugby club as an immediate neighbour. Modern farming practices have reshaped the fields and woodlands around the site of Cowslip’s miserable home. Hedgerows and fences have closed off access to the bridges that played such a part in the rabbits’ escape from Efrafa. Most gallingly, Watership Down now has much of its north-facing scarp fenced off for horse-riding gallops, whilst the famous beech hanger is behind a gate. But this does not mean both features are inaccessible, with a footpath across the gallops and a gate for tourists who may want to view the outside of the hanger. 

Ultimately, the Watership Down landscape is one that will reward you in line with the effort you put in. No matter what has changed on the topography of Hampshire and West Berkshire, the heart of Richard Adams’ novel about rabbits seeking to find and sustain a new home is very much intact.

Looking at various maps of the area around Watership Down, I discovered a surprising level of inconsistency regarding the location of specific hills and downs. It can be hard to establish exactly where one down begins and another ends.

A case in point is the field where I believe Dr Adams released Hazel back into the wild. Some maps label this as part of Nuthanger Down, whilst others have Nuthanger Down further to the south. Likewise, Richard Adams refers to Watership Down and Hare Warren Down as neighbours, yet one map has the latter a considerable way off to the south-west, instead identifying Ashley Warren Down as the neighbour.

For the sake of consistency with Richard Adams’ writing, I have followed the place names he used.

Some of the locations featured in these pages are publicly accessible.

Much of Newtown Common, the northern slope of Watership Down (between the tree-line at the base and the gallops at the top) and the Ladle Hill fort are designated open access land. You have the right, enshrined in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to walk, sightsee, bird-watch, climb and run here. 

You have the right to access public footpaths, bridleways and byways. These include the Wayfarer’s Walk over Watership Down, the tracks to Efrafa and the path that runs from the end of Warren Road, through Sandleford Park to the A339 opposite the remains of Sandleford Priory. Hampshire County Council maintains a map of publicly accessible footpaths, bridleways and byways on its website.

Some of the locations featured in these pages are privately owned. It is recommended you seek the permission of the landowner before attempting to visit them.

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