Ronald K. Brind

Ronald K Brind was born during 1945 in a property on Risinghurst Estate just a few hundred yards away from the Kilns and where a truly great man would permit me to fish and shoot in the so-called lake and woodland. The dead lake isn't much bigger than a pond really, with mosquitoes and horse flies that will eat you alive during the months June to September. I would shoot pigeons, squirrels, rabbits and pheasant in the woodland that most believe inspired Jack to write the Chronicles of Narnia. During the Winter months with the frost on the trees it's not hard to see where Narnia comes from, it's beautiful.

As that ten year old boy I would walk to the Kilns with my fishing rods and shotgun (licensed even at the age of ten costing ten shillings a year, the equivalent of fifty pence today) where C S Lewis (Jack) was often sat in the dining room near the window. I would knock on the window and politely ask "may I go fishing and shooting in the lake and woodland beyond please"? Jack never refused me and replied with a really commanding voice barking through the window saying "Go on then, off you go" at the same time as a flick of the back of his hand, almost a case of go on then don't bother me!

I met step-sons Douglas and David Gresham a couple of years later and we had the run of the house and the Kilns for five years or more, including the attic (loft space) where I can tell you that there was no wardrobe!

I wrote the paperback first simply because of my immense knowledge of Lewis, the family members and the layout of the Kilns; meaning the whole nine acres not just the house which is wrongly known the world over as the Kilns! Looking back the paperback was not my finest hour, but it has been updated and totally surpassed by my ebook of which there is nothing else like it available. Visitors to Oxford have routes to follow, maps, pictures, links, what to see, how to get there, camera use, likely entry restrictions, contacts, telephone numbers, anecdotes that will make you smile and confirmation if it were needed that Jack was just a very ordinary man.