Anyone who as a child sought refuge in a wardrobe, pushed through the musty clothes and rubbed flushed cheeks against fur in the hope that eager hands would come into contact with the magical land of Narnia, should visit the part of Belfast where it all began. C.S. Lewis, Christian writer and creator of Narnia, was born in Strandtown, East Belfast, at a site now occupied by a block of flats. Nearby, in a house called Little Lea on the city's Circular Road, Lewis began drawing characters in a make believe world he called "AnimalLand". These detailed doodles sowed the seeds for his seven-book series The Chronicles of Narnia.
The series - featuring a lion called Aslan as a metaphor for the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ - still has a Harry Potter-ish hold over both children and adults today. (The second book in the series, The Lion, The Witch and The Ward- robe, has the dubious distinction of being the all-time favourite book of both Oasis bad boy Liam Gallagher and ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell).
In his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, Clive Staples Lewis recounted how his move to Little Lea - built by his solicitor father - at the age of seven impacted on his early life. "The New House is almost a major character in my story," he wrote. "I am a product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms, upstair indoor silences, attics explored in solitude, distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes and the noise of wind under the tiles. Also of endless books."
In Little Lea, Lewis lived "entirely in my imagination". He and his only brother Warren commandeered an attic (the inspiration for the garret antics of Digory Kirke in the first book in The Narnia Chronicles, The Magician's Nephew) which became their study. Here the little boy who liked to be called Jack created Animal-Land, drawing creatures wearing human clothes.
The area around Little Lea, and much of north Co Down, is bursting with Lewis-related landmarks. Two years ago, the centenary of his birth was celebrated with a C.S. Lewis trail. First stop is St Mark's Church at Dundela in Belfast - where, in 1898, Lewis was baptised by his maternal grandfather, the Rev Thomas Hamilton. Across the road from Little Lea, Lewis wrote his 1932 book Pilgrim's Regress in the still standing home of his childhood friend Arthur Greeves.
The Old Inn at Crawfordsburn in north Down is a place where Lewis spent summer holidays and later a belated honeymoon with his wife, the American writer Joy Davidman. "Heaven is Oxford lifted and placed in the middle of the County Down," the celebrated academic once wrote. The Mountains of Mourne were believed by Warren Lewis to have been an inspiration for Narnia.
In the centenary year a sculpture by local artist Ross Wilson was unveiled outside the library at Holywood Arches near Lewis's birthplace. It shows Digory entering the wardrobe which was the gateway to Narnia. These days in Lewis's old East Belfast home, the two lucky sons of the current owners make their own fun in the attic where C.S. Lewis once doodled.
For a guided tour around the C.S. Lewis trail contact Tony Wilson on 048 90 763 540 (from the South) or 028 90 763 540 (from the North)