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Cowslip's Warren,

in Summer 1987.

Sorry, but this should be Frith Copse.
Looking towards Frith Copse, site of Cowslip's warren.
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From chapter 13, 'Hospitality':

'...the ditch and trees curved back again in a re-entrant, so that the field formed a bay with a bank running all the way round.... In the bank on the further side of the bay the rabbit-holes were plain to see, showing dark and distinct in the bare ground. It was as conspicuous a warren as could be imagined.'

Cowslip and his warren of snares was not
part of the story Adams told his daughters ‘on
the road to Stratford-on-Avon’, he says he
added it on the spur of the moment as he was writing.
Adams has stated the warrens were not
meant to signify anything, or meant to mean anything – Cowslip's warren is simply there.
Fiver may not have liked it, but I
found it very interesting.

Blackberry knows all sorts of interesting facts about Watership Down.
It can be quite difficult to accurately locate some sites in a single visit. This photograph shows Frith Copse, or at least I think it does. Here's the location on Google maps. There is no easy public access to this warren site and though this is a 'best guess' it cannot be far away, no more than a couple of hundred yards. If anything the warren lies just off to the left of this photograph. One day I shall have to sort this out. Access was along a series of field edges and gaps in the hedges like those below.

Sorry, but this should be a field boundary near Frith Copse.
Field edges and...
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Sorry, but this should be a view through a hedge near Frith Copse.
...hedgerow gaps typical of the area.
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These two shots illustrate the beauty of agricultural southern England and the difficulty of getting to this warren site. They were taken with in a few hundred yards of Frith Copse, I had to creep along field boundaries such as on the left and through overgrown gaps in the hedges such as you can see on the right. The rabbits would have, once again, had an easier time of it. While I was negotiating the field edges I startled a fallow deer, I have the photo!

The three photographs above were shot on Kodak Ektachrome 200 film (E6 process). Compared to the Kodachromes that make up most of the photos in The Real Watership Down, Ektachrome is easy to scan. Kodachrome, while glorious when projected, can be a nightmare to scan. Unlike the film from my first visit, these were perfectly processed by Dave Blunden in Bournemouth. He founded, and ran until he retired in 2008, a very successful advertising and industrial photography and professional processing business. I used to help out from time to time during my school and university holidays.

Sorry, but this should be a rabbit nibbling some cabbage.
A wild rabbit on flayrah - well, he's almost wild!
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Could this be Hazel, Cowslip or even Strawberry?

'Hazel sat nibbling and biting, the rich, full, taste of the cultivated roots filling him with a wave of pleasure. he hopped about the grass, gnawing one piece after another...'

Unfortunately no, it isn't. I didn't even take this anywhere near Watership Down. I actually took it on Primrose Hill in central London; one chilly blustery morning in march as it happens....

ReturnClick Bigwig here to return to select another location. It might be best to avoid his ears, his fleas live there!