Touring

David here: Well, today I officially lead my first tour of the house.  The attendees were just 2, a lovely couple from Cardiff.  They had read many Lewis biographies and Douglas Gresham's books as well.  There was a sense in which this made the tour easier, because there were stories I did not have to tell, but then again, it made it a challenge because they knew so much!  But it was fun, and they were lovely.

Then, in the afternoon, Peter Cousin - famous for taking people around Oxford - gave us our own little tour, visiting many sites related, not only to Lewis, but to J. R. R. Tolkien as well.  He is a real treasure trove of knowledge about Lewis, and we learned a good number of things from him.  It was so nice of him to approach us earlier this week and invite us to ride around with him.  He's retired, and no longer does tours as he used to.

I took a few pictures.

Of the many houses we visited related to Lewis' life, I was especially concerned to get a picture of this one, because it is here that Lewis and the Moores lived while he was keeping his diary, later published as All My Road Before Me.  This diary is an important source for the paper I plan to present during the Trinity term at the local C. S. Lewis Society.

Mr. Cousin also took us to see Tolkien's residences and his final resting place.

In the same graveyard as the Tolkiens, Mr. Carpenter - biographer of Tolkien and the Inklings - is also buried, so we paid our respect to him as well.  A delightful afternoon with Peter, a very generous and kind man.