Will Vaus

This photo, which appeared in the Belfast Telegraph on January 13, 2010, makes one believe that the Mourne Mountains of Northern Ireland did indeed inspire C. S. Lewis' description of the landscape of Narnia. For more, click here: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/the-reallife-land-of-narnia-northern-irelands-mourne-mountains-14633381.html

The photo above fell out of an old picture album the other day and has been lingering in my desk ever since. The picture is of some friends and I at the Trout Inn at Godstow, Oxfordshire in 1997. Coincidentally I came across this lovely article about Snowdrops at Godstow online today: http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/4861662.Snowdrops__at_Godstow/ Walter Hooper notes on page 790 of Volume III of The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis: "The Trout Inn, one of Lewis's favourite places, is a few miles outside Oxford on Godstow Road and faces the Thames. It was built in the sixteenth century and by 1625 it was serving as an inn. The two-storey building was rebuilt in 1757. Its interior is very cosy with flagstone floors, beamed ceilings and log fires. The Inklings went there often in the summer when they could have their drinks outside by the river." Here is a photo of Lewis with James Dundas-Grant, Colin Hardie, R. E. Havard and Peter Havard at the Trout:

There is a call for papers for the C. S. Lewis & Friends Colloquium at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. The colloquium takes place June 3-6, 2010. Taylor is well worth the visit to see the C. S. Lewis Collection there as well as a portion of Ed Brown's recreation of the Eagle & Child pub (pictured above)! To learn more about the colloquium click here: http://www.taylor.edu/academics/supportservices/cslewis/colloquium/2010/index.shtml