dizzojay | A Watership Down day (Reply)

A few weeks ago, the lovely

blackrabbit42 contacted me out of the blue to tell me that she was going to be heading over to the UK in mid-April.

She was one of the first online friends I connected with when I joined the Supernatural fandom in 2010, and so I was so thrilled to finally get to meet her in person!

As well as Supernatural, the main other thing that we bonded over was a shared love of Watership Down, so I was delighted when she asked if I had a day spare to visit the actual Watership Down with her.

I was keen to go too, because although Watership Down is only about 30 miles away from my home, and I’d driven past it a couple of times, I’d never actually been on ‘the Down’.

On the arranged morning, a couple of weeks ago, we met up at Woking station, and it was awesome to finally meet blackrabbit42 along with her lovely sister and Mum. Once the hugs and introductions were done, we all excitedly bundled into my car and set off on the hour- long drive from Woking to the town of Kingsclere, which is about about two miles from the Down.

Once at Kingsclere, our first stop was The Crown pub for a delicious dinner and lots of chat.

(Image-heavy post - and these aren't my photos; I’ve purloined them from Blackrabbit’s sister – with permission, of course!)

Well-fed and well-chatted, we jumped back in the car for the one mile drive to the car park at the foot of Watership Down.

The UK is just like many countries, we have all sorts of varied landscapes, and if you wanted to see the more rugged, mountainous areas, you’d need to head further north or west. The the south of England is characterised by rolling green hills and very gentle, pretty landscapes, and Watership down is part of that.

It was so nice, just taking a gentle stroll over the down, enjoying the beauty of the area, and we even found the spot where Hazel, Fiver and their brave little band of bunnies built their burrow under the roots of a big beech tree.

The big beech tree did actually exist, but it was damaged in a storm in the early 2000’s, so it was cut down and replaced in 2013 by a young beech sapling.

When our walk over the down was complete, we got back in the car, and headed down some teeny tiny country roads (praying we didn’t meet a tractor coming the other way) toward the Watership Down inn for a coffee, and a few more photos:

It was a truly fabulous trip. So wonderful to finally meet blackrabbit42, together with her adorable family. I know that this trip was, for want of a better word, a pilgrimage for her, and it was a privilege to be able to share this experience with a dear friend.

I’m so grateful that she invited me to join her on such a special day.