The Hanger and the Honeycomb,

in 1983 and 1985.

The beech hanger on Watership Down From chapter 19, 'Fear in the Dark':         'It consisted almost entirely of well grown beeches. The great, smooth trunks stood motionless in their green shade, the branches spreading flat, one above another in crisp light-dappled tiers. Between them the ground was open and offered hardly any cover. The rabbits were perplexed. They could not make out why the wood was so light and still and why they could see so far between the trees. The continuous, gentle rustling of the beech leaves was unlike the sounds to be heard in a copse of nut-bushes, oak and silver birch.           Moving uncertainly in and out along the edge of the hanger, they looked out over the empty stretches of grass beyond.'

The beech tree on Watership Down This is the large beech tree that stood close to the north-east corner of the beech hanger on Watership Down. It has suffered a lot in the past few years, and is now badly damaged. Its trunk is adorned with the carved messages of fans and readers. If any one spot marks the centre of the Watership Down world then this is it. I was standing by this tree when I heard a familiar voice approaching from behind the row of smaller trees that shield the hanger from the rest of the down. Watership Down is owned, along with the rest of the Sydmonton estate of which it is part, by Andrew Lloyd Webber. So far, he's not shown any sign of writing a musical version of Watership Down, though with this much inspiration in your back garden wouldn't you be tempted? For a moment I thought I was hearing things when a border collie bounded up and sniffed me. 'Come away Tetter.' the voice said as its owner came into view. 'Hello,' I said tentatively back. 'Good afternoon.' came the reply. He walked past me to stand by the fence through which the photograph above was taken. He turned to his companion, '...and this is the beech hanger. You can see how easy it was for Hazel to run down through it at the end of the book.' As with the quotations from the book I use italics and silver text to highlight Richard Adams' own words.... There are rabbits on Watership Down, however they live close to the north-west corner of the hanger. Time once more to move on back to the road in the last leg of our walk. Click here to view the hanger from the west.