C.S. Lewis Nature Reserve

In 1930, Fred Paxford (1898-1979) comes to The Kilns as a gardener and handyman. Under his guidance, the Lewis brothers and Mrs Moore make many improvements to the property. They plant an orchard, add fish to the flooded clay pit, and build fences and walking paths. C.S. Lewis loves walking in the woods, especially during seasonal changes. In 1969, the woodlands and the pond near The Kilns are acquired by The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust, and made into the C.S. Lewis Nature Reserve. The reserve is open to the public throughout the year.

The Chronicles of Narnia

The nature surrounding The Kilns provides much of the inspiration for the scenery in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia stories. The Chronicles of Narnia are a series of seven children’s books, which Lewis starts in 1948 and completes in 1954. Shortly before Britain declares war on Germany in September 1939, many children are evacuated from London, and Lewis and Mrs Moore agree to have some of them at The Kilns. Lewis enjoys the children, and it seems that the presence of some of them makes him write The Chronicles of Narnia. In six years, the following seven volumes are published:

1950 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
1951 Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
1952 The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader”
1953 The Silver Chair
1954 The Horse and His Boy
1955 The Magician’s Nephew
1956 The Last Battle

According to Lewis, the series are not planned beforehand. The tales begin with pictures in his head. They are not allegories, but supposals. The lion Aslan is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question: what might Jesus Christ have become like, if there would be a world like Narnia, and He chose to be incarnate, die, and rise again in that world as He has actually done in ours?

After C.S. Lewis’s death, various stage and screen adaptations of The Chronicles of Narnia are made in the 1980s and 1990s. Several book adaptations are broadcast as TV series in the UK and USA.

During his life, C.S. Lewis does not sell the film rights to the Narnia series. Later, after seeing the possibilities of computer-generated imagery, his stepson Douglas Gresham approves a film adaption. Three movies have now been made in The Chronicles of Narnia film series:

2005 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
2008 Prince Caspian
2010 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader