A brick bench where CS Lewis saw Narnia in his mind's eye has been uncovered at the author's old home in Risinghurst.

The semi-circular bench overlooking a pond in his garden was a favourite place for the author when he was seeking inspiration.

But the bench had disappeared from view, becoming completely overgrown with vegetation in what is now the CS Lewis Nature Reserve.

It has now been cleared, in the first project undertaken by volunteers in the newly-formed Friends of CS Lewis Reserve, launched by the local wildlife trust BBOWT to involve the local community in the reserve.

Jo Croft, of BBOWT, said: "We always knew the brick seat was there, although it was no longer visible from any of the paths.

"It will now be a place where people can sit and enjoy the reserve overlooking the pond. The scene has not changed a great deal since CS Lewis sat there, while seeking inspiration for his stories."

With the Disney film version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe sparking phenomenal interest in the Oxford don, who became one of the world's best loved children's book writers, the trust has also won an £18,000 grant to improve the reserve next to his old house.

The grant comes from Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd (Wren), the organisation which distributes money from landfill tax. BBOWT said the money would be spent on improving access to the site and boosting the educational potential at a site widely known as "the Real Narnia."

There are plans to improve a circular path around the reserve, restore seating, cut back vegetation around two ponds and build a pond dipping platform, serving as an outdoor classroom for school groups. The work will be undertaken by volunteers.

But the trust says it will also continue with its plans to remove non-native trees from the reserve, a policy that recently came under fire from Lewis tour organiser Ronald Brind. Mr Brind, author of CS Lewis in Oxford and a boyhood friend of the author's stepson Dougie Gresham, accused the trust of changing the character of the woodland and said foreign visitors were horrified by the shabby state of the reserve.

Becca Bolam, the Trust's community reserves officer, said: "Following a meeting of local residents at the end of last year and the recent establishment of a friends group, we, as a community, have decided on the best course of action. We are now in a position to really get things moving.

"Interest in the site has gradually declined over the last few years and I'm pleased that we now have the potential to make the most of this wonderful reserve."

In recent years the reserve, backing on to Shotover woods, has suffered badly at the hands of both vandals and motorcyclists.

BBOWT acquired the reserve with a grant from the World Wildlife Fund in 1969.