Stepping through the wardrobe

This is neither a bookshop nor a library … but a book walk.

I was recently in Oxford for a walking tour which was about the centre of the city and the university but focused mainly on the authors CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. The guide was incredibly knowledgeable and the whole visit was immensely interesting. A week on, one particularly part of the walk stays with me. It was a cold and very misty day, especially near the river where Magdalen College is. We went into the quite empty college grounds and could wander freely, having already been shown where CS Lewis lived during his long teaching career there.

There is an enormous deer park (with said deer) and it was easy to see Narnia right here, hidden within plain sight in the middle of Oxford. There are large doorways and arches, grotesques on the facades of college buildings, a centaur might have appeared in the large quad and Mr Tumnus might be just behind the large, beautifully lit Christmas Tree. The lack of any crowds of tourists was helpful and the ancient buildings hung with mist provided exactly the right atmosphere. I felt I could see what CS Lewis had seen. I had been to Narnia.


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