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This is a graphics-intensive page...please be patient
Watership Down, in all its glory, from the animated
movie
The settings are a little easier to depict briefly than the plot. The story takes place in central England, mostly in Hampshire, between the cities of Kingsclere and Overton, where the high high downs exist. There are four major sub-settings, which are various rabbit warrens encountered.
One thing I found very interesting is that all the locations mentioned
in the novel are, in fact, real. This page has a lot of pictures
of these locations, so please be patient while they load. Another
thing I found interesting and somewhat amusing was the fact that the entire
journey (from Sandleford to Efrafa) was only eight miles! After reading
the novel, you would think that they had quested for hundreds of miles,
but no, only eight.
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This is the "doomed city" from which the group of main characters flee. It sits on the edge of a forest and by a stream, about 5 miles NW of Kingsclere. It is destroyed by men in a construction project shortly after the group deserts it. |
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The group of weary travelers stops here to rest. It is about 2 miles SE of Sandleford. The inhabitants of this warren are all sleek and healthy, however, there is an unnatural and eerie ambiance about the place. It turns out to be surrounded by snares. The inhabitants are well aware of this fact, yet continue to live there, buried in their dark secret. They have turned from Frith, and greatly scare the Watership rabbits. |
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This is the warren established by the main characters. It sits upon the towering Watership Down, which is a down located 3 miles SW of Kingsclere. The rabbits like it because it is high--they can see and hear everything for miles around them. There is a small clump of cottonwoods atop the down, and the rabbits dig their warren amongst the trees' roots. |
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Efrafa is a large, severe, and punishing warren run by a ruthless dictator. It is located about 2 miles East of Whitechurch. "The Crixa," or the center of the warren, is located at the crossing point of two bridal paths. Nearby is a great river and a railroad track. The large warren is carefully concealed and methodically arranged to the point where no one would know it even existed. Rabbits are only allowed to eat in shifts, and must pass hraka only in designated areas. The Watership rabbits have an unfortunate run-in with this brutal militant warren. |
PICTURES:
I got the real pictures from Chris Boyce's The Real Watership Down Page.
Sunset at Sandleford, from the animated movie.
The real Sandleford location. Photo by Chris
Boyce
This is THE real Watership Down! This photo
is taken from down by Nuthanger Farm,
looking South. This photo was taken by Chris
Boyce.
This is the view from atop the real Watership Down.
Photo by Chris Boyce.
Night sets in at Nuthanger Farm in the animated movie.
Chris Boyce's photo of the real Nuthanger Farm.
A picture of the where Efrafa would be located if
it actually existed. Photo taken by Chris Boyce.