C.S. Lewis once wrote that the idea for the Narnia books came to him from images. In particular, he was referring to the Golden Valley and the Wye Valley in Herefordshire.
From these inspiring places, he created the land of Narnia, a land populated with a rich diversity of beings, some very like their counterparts in our world and some derived from his knowledge and love of myth and fairy tale. C.S. Lewis, was a pupil at Malvern College for a year just before the First World War, and then moved on to study at University College, Oxford, and later was a lecturer at Oxford's Magdalen College for almost 30 years. During his time in Oxford he was a member of a literary circle of friends, calling themselves 'The Inklings', who included J.R.R. Tolkien amongst others. He also taught a student called George Sayer who went on to teach at Malvern College for 30 years.
 | | Gas lamp in Malvern at night |
Lewis and Tolkein stayed good friends with George Sayer, and the three used walk on the Malvern hills. The story goes that, after drinking in a Malvern pub one winter evening, they were walking home when it started to snow. They saw a lamp post shining out through the snow and Lewis turned to his friends and said 'that would make a very nice opening line to a book'. And so it did! | 
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