C S Lewis Nature Reserve

C S Lewis Nature Reserve is a quietly lovely patch of Oxford nature, tucked into Risinghurst and built around a large pond and steeply rising woodland. What makes it especially interesting is that this land once belonged to C.S. Lewis, and the reserve still carries that tucked-away, storybook kind of stillness despite being surrounded by houses and close to the A40.

The pond was once a flooded Victorian clay pit and now supports aquatic plants, spring toads, summer dragonflies and nesting water birds, while the woodland canopy brings beech, oak, birch, alder, ash and hawthorn into the mix. It is not vast, but that almost adds to the charm.

A calm, characterful nature stop for wandering, birdwatching and pretending the city has melted a little further into the background than it really has.