Living in Narnia

 

This is the view from my window.

I was reminded how fortunate I am to have a magical land just outside my front door when I posted this photo on Facebook on Monday.

Lots of people commented that it looked just like Narnia.

It could have all been so different…

We had gone out with my parents for the day to visit the James Herriot Museum. “All Creatures Great and Small” had been compulsive viewing when we were growing up so I knew my parents would enjoy their day out while they were staying with us.

Andrew was not so interested by our family outing but he hatched a plan to stop at a salvage place nearby to look for a red telephone box on our way home. We’d fancied having one in the garden for a while.

But what really caught our eye were the lampposts, particularly the one that now stands in our garden.

We put down a deposit and Andrew’s mood brightened as he planned fetching it the following week.

He sanded and repainted it, mostly black but with some decorative green to match the front door. He replaced the glass and ran the wiring so it could be fully functioning, lighting the garden from dusk till bedtime.

It’s great to have a light on to welcome you home in the dark but it's even more exciting when it snows because the lamppost does indeed transform the garden into a magical fairytale world.

However much it thrills others to see it for me the most important thing to me is that it is one of Andrew’s legacies, something he left behind for me and the boys to enjoy and that is more magical and precious than anything else.