A Natural History of
Watership Down
LITERARY LANDSCAPES VOL.1

Tracing the paths of Richard Adams' characters Hazel, Bigwig, Strawberry, and Fiver throughout the pastures, woodlands, and hedgerows near the author's home in Hampshire, England. All quotes by Richard Adams

" To rabbits everything unknown
is dangerous."

A Pocket Guide to Speaking "Hedgerow Vernacular"

It was not Richard Adams' novel, but Martin Rosen's animated adaptation that first brought Watership Down to my attention. I was eight years old. It was the summer of 1979, and HBO, which had only recently broken into the mainstream, seemed to be broadcasting the film on a daily basis. Each of us carries within us an intensely formative cultural experience found early in life. For some it may be a book, a piece of music, or a film. In my case, Watership Down represented such an experience and was based both collectively, and individually in all three of these mediums: Rosen's film, Angela Morley's superb score, and Adams's original novel.    READ MORE