Wow. I took wayyyy too many pictures today. At this rate, I’m going to run out of cloud storage in about 14 days. I have a hard time trying not to preserve every special thing I see or experience, so you know it was a good day.
The Happs
It was a pretty busy day for me. I started off with a tour of CS Lewis’s home, The Kilns. It’s called that because the home was once part of a brick manufacturing plant before Lewis bought it. It was once out in the country, but now it sits in a quiet neighborhood on the edge of Oxford.
When I arrived at The Kilns, I was surprised to find that everyone else in my tour — about a dozen people — was also American. So was the tour guide! Apparently, Lewis is much more popular with the Americans right now. Almost all tours are exclusively Americans. Kind of odd, really. Maybe they should just move The Kilns to America lol. The guide was a resident scholar. Any clergy, scholars, and academics can apply to live and study at The Kilns if they wish (@Kaden).
After the tour, I spent a while in the Lewis Nature Reserve immediately behind The Kilns. Lewis once owned the 8 acres of land and it’s now been protected by the government. It’s a beautiful, hilly, web of paths that wind throughout a forest and a large pond. I ended up reading some excerpts from his books while I sat and enjoyed the forest.
I tried to imagine Lewis walking through the woods while he thought on his books. It was really difficult though. It’s odd how you can spend years imagining what it will be like to visit a place, how it will feel while you’re there, only to find that it just feels like a nice place. Don’t get me wrong — it was wonderful and very special. It just never feels like I would expect.
After the nature reserve, I walked over to CS Lewis’s church, the Holy Trinity Church of Headington. It’s Anglican and was designed to look like a medieval gothic church, which I’m sure Lewis enjoyed. He was a medieval English literature professor for many years. I checked out the Narnia window of the church and visited his grave. Like everything else here, it was beautiful.
Next, I headed to Magdalen College of Oxford University. It’s where Lewis taught for a number of years and it’s widely considered to be the most beautiful campus at Oxford. It didn’t disappoint. I can see exactly how such a school would inspire Hogwarts from Harry Potter. (Shoutout to Valerie and Michaela.)
There were lots of areas off-limits to visitors but still plenty to see. Some highlights: a deer reserve in the middle of campus with a huge herd in it, the main chapel that was built over 500 years ago, the great dining hall, the famous Oxford waterways with pole boats, and over a mile of beautiful walking trails.
Following Magdalen, I walked over to see the Eagle and Child Pub that Lewis and Tolkien loved to drink at. Unfortunately, it was under renovation and covered in scaffolding. I also happened upon a coffee shop that claimed to be the oldest in Europe, starting business in 1654. Not sure if they actually are the oldest, but that’s impressive. The coffee was just aight. They made and excellent mushroom and avocado pesto wrap though! That I had to eat with a fork and knife. British culture smh.
To top off the day, I walked back out to the nature reserve. I sat to watch the ducks dive for food for a while, then wrote some poetry. All in all, it was a very, very good day. Oh! And I learned how to use the buses today. Thank goodness. I walked over 2 miles yesterday because I couldn’t figure out how to get the bus pass to work.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow will be a pretty bland day. I’m hoping to backdate some journaling and catch up on rest. I plan to go to CS Lewis’s church in the morning, which is terrifying. I’ve never been to a liturgical service before. After that, I’ll try to figure out how to get to Olney.
