Posted on by susurrus

Friday Fancy: Fairy Places

Statue of a child riding a lion in Chatsworth Kitchen garden
A child riding a lion under a fruit tree arch in Chatsworth’s kitchen garden

Look away now if you never entertain a fanciful thought. Or just ignore the words and see what you make of this odd assortment of images.

For those who are still with me, this post was inspired by a smattering of comments left recently by people who sense the faerie world around them – you know who you are! Since then, I’ve thought of fairies when looking at some of my pictures.

Double flowered aquilegias in a cutting garden

The first two were taken at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, which is grand, classical and over 400 years old with all the right ingredients for a large scale fairy garden: grottos, follies, arches, hillsides, woodland, meadows, streams, a formal water cascade, and a rock garden unlike any I’ve seen with massive slabs of stone. Then there’s a kitchen garden full of things to gather and eat with slender paths surely too narrow for human feet, and a pool, bright with candelabra primulas if you’re there at the right time.

It might have stretched your imagination to see fairies dancing around the statue or skipping through the flowers after the visitors have gone home, but the last three will be easier.

Dappled light seen through flowers

This one, for example – I’m sure the blur on some of those petals must have been caused by small wings.

And if you adjust your eyes from dappled shade to something more dimly lit…

Darkly lit pond with waterlilies and spiky foliage
A pool perfect for nymphs or sprites

Some of my pictures take a distinctly fairy-style viewpoint, like this one:

Sunnyhurst Wood foliage
Peeking out into the meadow from the fairy bridges in Sunnyhurst Wood

Do you see what I mean?

Shared as part of my pictures for dreaming series. 

46 Replies to “Friday Fancy: Fairy Places”

  2. I sure do! My heart skipped a beat when I saw the title of your piece. I was in from the get-go, as we might say in Maine. I absolutely agree that the blur on some of those petals must have been caused by small wings.
    Here is something for you:
    “I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
    Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
    Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
    With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
    There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
    Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.”

    Thanks for an utterly delightful post. Sure made me smile on this gray, rainy day.

  4. What perfect images for Mayday! I’d actually had Midsummer Night’s Dream on my mind, and these gardens made an extraordinary setting for that. When I read Laurie’s comment, I knew I was thinking right! On the less literary side, now I want a kitchen garden like this one!

    1. Mayday must have exerted a charm. From the looks of things, you’re well on the way to getting one started, assuming they don’t all jump from the table when nobody is looking.

      1. Hahaha. At this point, I’m thinking that’s not impossible. I keep a sharp eye out for any signs of a plot.

    1. The Thalictrum was in an ordinary front garden, so far as you could call anything that looks like that ‘ordinary’.

    1. The pond is from Harlow Carr. It didn’t look quite so mysterious in life as it has turned out by some alchemy in the picture.

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