Welcome to Reg's Fairy Garden

                         on the Island of Jersey UK

          reg@reg-garden.com

The Fairy Garden is totally dedicated 

to the BBC's  

Children in Need Appeal Fund

Remember: Collecting for Children in Need is not for  just for one week, it is forever.

All funds collected will be given to our local 

radio station. BBC Radio Jersey. Fund coordinators.

Creating a 'fairy garden'

I have started creating a 'fairy garden' in part of my garden.  

There are archways over pathways where children and adults 

can look through purpose made openings, they will be able to see 

fairies and understand stories that they represent, such as Cinderella

Sleeping Beauty and Grimmes fairy tales.      

The pathways total 120 feet long in an area of  50 x 50  feet . 

and there is  an artificial stone waterfall, stepping down 

into four mini ponds. The waterfall is about 4 feet high and 7 to 8 

feet long.  I think that the water should just trickle over so not to 

make too much noise as I will be inviting people to read fairy 

poems and stories to small groups of children and adults.

Time to dream, time to think of others.

The Fairy Garden is not a playground, it is somewhere that

children and adults alike can enjoy tranquility .

 It is somewhere that they can come and walk around and 

see  fairies. There are also small displays with

little characters representing fairy tales.

Hundreds of bedding plants, climbers and bushes have been 

carefully chosen to compliment the area.

 Planting

I need the most color from Mid May to the end of September

The choice of the flowers is mine. I will take the blame. I chose 

them for their shape, color, and fragrance , and although I know how

 to plant them and look after them, I know very little about naming them.

Please ask questions on anything to do with the garden, except flowers.

I  started planting out the garden with forty large and small 

climbers, some of them were as much as ten feet tall that I purchased 

 from a local flower nursery at a greatly reduced price as some had  been

 a little wind burnt. 

Climbers

Starting with the tallest:   Jasmine (nudiflorum).  Honeysuckle, 

 Clematis , Orange Blossom, Potato Vine (Solanum)

Planted and about to be planted

Violet (Viola canina)

Nasturtium

Daylily

Lilac (small bush)

Rose

Leptospermum

Campanula

Buxus

Buddleia

Daisy (Bellis )

Iris

Pyracantha (on a portable frame, used as a screen)

all the surrounding hedge is Privet

Strawberries (gone wild)

Fuchsia

Crocosmia

Periwinkle (Vinca)

Pansy

Primula

Polyanthus

Primrose

Petunia

Large Pine tree (jeffreyi)

Fern (Phegopteris)

Foxglove (Digitalis)

Pinks (Dianthus)

Geranium(Pelargonium) planted in their pots 

and lifted out before the winter.

Poppy

Peony (Paeonia)

Water lily (Nymphaea)

Lupin

Lavender

Rosemary

Juniper (small)

Busy Lizzie

Fairies

The fairies started flying into the Fairy Garden in Jersey UK 

around the end of January 2005. They all came by the same travel 

agent,  Ebay. I asked ninety-five lots of them to come over and I am

pleased to say that seventy odd lots made it. Six hundred of them altogether.   

They came over from England, Canada, North and Sorth America. 

They are all fairies  although some of them look like Barbie, Sindy 

or even the lovely little Kelly  dolls. Think of them as fairies.  

Peggy, a very kind lady in California , a doll and fairy collector, 

send me over some wonderful fairies absolutely free of charge when she 

heard that I was creating a garden for Children in Need. That made 

a wonderful start to my fairy collection.

It is so encouraging to meet people like that when I am working on a 

project as this one.

The work on the fairy garden is a lot harder than I first imagined.  

Working on the archways and the planting out were simple, planning 

where I was going to position the displays is somewhat more difficult.

Out of the six hundred or so Fairies/Barbies including little Kellys, 

one hundred and fifty are waiting to be dressed and placed out in the 

garden. They are on the dinning room table at this moment waiting 

for their wings to be painted with some being fitted out with new clothes. 

I have purchased a simple Singer sewing machine to make a start on the 

job but I will have to learn how to use it first. 

  An other problem regarding sewing has occurred, I will be using nylon 

material to save the clothes from rotting as the 

fairies will be living outdoors for a long period. I am led to believe 

that sewing with slippery material such as nylon is a lot more 

difficult to do.   Ah well! I will just have to learn.

Building work completed

I have made four security gates to that can only be opened by adults. 

The idea of that is to stop the young ones from wondering out of the fairy 

garden and into the main part of the garden where the large pond is.

 A small wall has been built behind the freshly painted  Cinderella's 

stove, we used bricks from a disused electric storage heater.

 Fifty odd small mushrooms using sand and  cement have been cast, 

painted and planted into position. 

The Fairy Garden and the Fairy Tale areas have been landscaped 

with small pathways leading to six little two feet by two thatched roof 

cottages and a couple of castles. 

The led pump above the water fountain is giving the impression that 

the water coming from out of it is not so. A small concealed electric pump 

is doing the work. A small pond near to the fountain has a 

mist-making device fitted.

Work completed.

The larger of the two greenhouses in the Fairy Garden is used 

 to display Model Gardens and dolls, mostly Barbie.  It is 

sixteen feet long and ten feet wide with benching. 

Background fairy music is installed. Loudspeakers are going 

to be fitted into the roof of the archways and the music will start 

when anyone enters the garden.

A live webcam is installed in a tree overlooking the fairy garden.

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I am very fortunate that a friend of mine has volunteered to weld hundreds

 of spring steel clips onto  stainless steel rods to support the fairies now they

are installed in the garden.

 to be continued..........

Added attraction

I had an idea to have an added attraction in the fairy 

garden, I would use the greenhouse as a display area and display

a few Model Gardens that had been made purposefully for raising 

funds for Children in Need.  Below is a little poster that I sent out.

Like the idea?  … and it’s free      

……. I have just thought of it …I am sure that it will encourage more folk to visit the garden, 

and part with their pennies. All monies go to the BBC Children in Need Appeal Fund from the fairy garden.

Reg’s Fairy Garden.

Year round fund raising for the BBC Children in Need Appeal Fund

It is to encourage children and adults to take an interest in gardening.

Create a miniature fairy garden

 I am asking if there are children and children at heart (adults) if they would like to create a 

miniature fairy garden of their very own.  I am reserving an area in the garden adjacent to 

the fairy garden to accommodate sixteen separate gardens, each measuring 

1.5m x 1.8m with a picket fence dividing them and a gate to enter each one. In the case of 

a school, they would have a garden measuring 1.5m x 3.6m…………. 

It is not a competition.

The children will first present a plan/design of their idea of a miniature fairy garden to me 

                                  or in the case of a school to their teacher for our perusal. They will be able to start building 

their garden towards the end of April 2006. Garden plans (please keep them simple) can 

                                    be drawn up between now and the beginning of April. The fairy garden builders will also 

                                   be expected to maintain their own gardens during the summer season, say from May to 

                                  September. At this moment, I am planning to construct a raised area so that disabled 

                                                         folk can join in the fun.

                                    To avoid disappointment, I would suggest that anyone wanting to take part in this new 

                                                   project might like to put their names down sooner rather than later. 

                                                                   There is no age limit.                                                                        

                                                                                   Email: reg@reg-garden.com

Conditions:

Materials used should be less than 50% artificial.

The garden must not be over 0.5 meters high (or 18 inches to some.)

Cost of the materials for the gardens, should not exceed £5.00.

To be continued  ………… more detail (when I have thought of them) to follow later.

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      My Fairy Story

                                                                                                                    By Grandpa Reg Langlois

               Once upon a time …

…. a good way to start a story….

… I had been asked to baby-sit for my son and daughter-in-law’s children, 

my grandchildren Helen and Peter. The moment that I arrived at 

their home I was greeted  by the two young children with their arms 

full of fairy tale books.  Their mother had told  them  earlier that I 

was going to tell them stories when I arrived.  I was soon to be made 

comfortable on the settee with the children either side of me, when I 

had to make a major decision as to whose story book I would read first 

as they could not agree to having the same one.  I knew I would be

 upsetting one of them so I asked if they minded if I told them my 

own story and, with great enthusiasm, they agreed to listen.

                                  It went something like this ….

…. Once upon a time an old man and his three grandchildren were 

walking through the woods. It was a fine warm day in the summer, 

with the sunbeams dancing though the trees above and  birds singing 

to each other and flying onto the pathway ahead of the children, picking 

up insects to feed their young. Because of the heavy rainfall the night 

before, the potholes on the pathway were filled with water and the birds 

were enjoying an early morning bath. The children were delighted to see 

their antics. Even the tiniest of them were behaving like ducks.

The potholes were very shallow so the birds could not come to any harm, 

although they were ducking their heads under the water.

Not only had there been heavy rain the night before, but there was 

a strong wind that blew a lot of leaves off the trees to build up in 

heaps on the side of the pathway.  The children ran and jumped 

into the heaps of leaves, rolling over and over on them. They were having a 

wonderful time.  Grandpa called out to them to be careful 

what they did not disturb any wildlife that might be hiding in them. 

Grandpa did not want to spoil their fun but he knew that there

would be some wildlife in the leaves.  Just then a small mouse emerged 

cautiously from a heap of leaves nearby, took a look at the children,

 stood on his back legs and proceeded to wash his face.  The children 

were amazed and stood transfixed until he had finished his ablutions. 

It was not  until one of the them moved that the mouse ran away 

back into the undergrowth. This was a new adventure for the 

children,  they had never seen creatures like that so close before.

They continued along the path tiptoeing very quietly in case they saw

 more wildlife amongst the leaves. Suddenly they stopped.  A heap

 of leaves was moving. The youngest of the children  hung onto his 

grandfather’s hand very tightly while the other children, 

 moved closer to their him. He was smiling for, as he had guessed,  

a large blackbird with a bright yellow beak appeared, startling 

the children. They wanted to know what a bird was doing under 

the leaves. Birds fly, they do not go under leaves. He explained 

that birds are always looking for food for themselves and their 

young and the heap of leaves would provide them with a 

variety of insects. He told them that, although that they 

had passed that way before, they had never noticed the wildlife 

and other things moving about  in the woods because they, like 

all children, would have been running and shouting to each other 

and, without realizing it,  would frighten all but the insects 

away before they had even noticed them.

Although the children were very excited as they walked along the 

tree covered pathway, they asked Grandpa in a whisper whether, if 

they were very quiet, they would see more animals  like the 

little mouse?  Grandpa said they would and they did see many more 

as they continued their walk. They all agreed to be as quite as 

mice and walk along very slowly.  As they turned the next bend, 

they stopped and sat on a small bank amazed at the spectacle before them. 

There were at least fifteen or even twenty rabbits, large and small, 

running up and down a high, grass covered bank. The children 

remained absolutely still noticing that some were going in and out 

of holes in the ground.   Grandpa, seeing that the children

 looked puzzled, bent down and explained in a whisper that the holes 

in the bank were where the rabbits lived.  They looked at him in 

disbelief and he understood why when the  youngest told him that he 

thought rabbits lived in rabbit hutches.  At that, the eldest of the 

grandchildren, who thought she knew everything, began 

to giggle and told her younger brother that rabbits normally 

live in holes.  She made so much noise that they

soon noticed that she had frightened all the rabbits away.

Grandpa reminded them that, if they wanted to see anything 

in the woods, they would have to stay perfectly quiet. It was not 

long before they saw something else much larger than them and,

had it not looked so beautiful, they might have been frightened. It

was a deer and one of the children whispered that she wanted to call it 

Bambi.  It had been  looking at them for some time through a clearing 

in the woods and only moved away when it heard what sounded 

like gunfire. Grandpa told them not to worry as it was not a gun 

making the noise but a tree being felled by woodmen in the distance.

They continued their walk, passing a beautiful little cottage with smoke

 curling out of the chimney. The children thought that it must be lovely

 to live in the woods surrounded by animals.  In all the excitement they 

had not noticed how tired they had become after all that running around. 

What an adventure!  Grandpa suggested that they might like to sit down 

to rest for a while on a grassy bank in the warm sun. 

First walking and now climbing - what fun, but very tiring. When 

they got to the top of the bank Grandpa sat down first, followed 

by the children. All at once they wanted to use him as a pillow. They 

must have been tired because one by one they went off to sleep. Grandpa 

softly whispered to them, sweet dreams. The youngest of the children 

went to sleep first followed soon after by the other two.  

Grandpa stayed awake to look after them.  He was enjoying this day as 

this was the first time he had them all together to walk with him in 

the woods, for now they were old  enough to be able to walk any distance 

and appreciate what the woods had to offer them.

In their dreams they carried on walking , passing a little girl 

dressed in a bright red shawl  and carrying a  basket over her arm. 

She smiled at them and told them she was going to see her 

Grandmother who was ill and in bed, adding that she had just 

seen a wolf and told him about her poor grandma's illness, He 

appeared to be very concerned about her health and had asked the 

young girl where did her grandmother live. She said that she told him 

and he then suggested, to get to her grandma's quicker, she might like 

to take a short cut to the cottage by going by a different route. 

Giving the children a wave she continued  on her way. 

A little further on they came to a little red brick- built  cottage 

with a  pig looking out through a window, as they passed, the pig called 

out something about a wolf huffing and puffing, but the children could 

not hear exactly what he said as the windows were closed.  Grandpa thought 

that, had it been important, the pig would have come outside to tell them so. 

The next house they passed was occupied by three bears - a very large 

one, a medium sized one and a baby one. They looked as if they had just 

returned home and were going indoors as Grandpa and the children went by.

 As they continued on their way, they saw in the distance a very large,

 beautiful building with many towers.  They asked Grandpa what it 

was but he had never seen one like it before, though he said he thought 

it was a castle.

  The children had heard about castles and wanted to see this one much 

closer so Grandpa agreed to take them. They soon arrived and, not seeing 

anyone around to ask if they could go in, they decided to have a quick

 look around by themselves.  They went from room to room on the ground 

floor, each one seeming larger and more decorative than the last, but, 

when they climbed the long, wide staircase and entered the first bedroom 

they had the surprise of their lives for, lying on the bed, was a beautiful 

girl  fully dressed and asleep. As they did not want to disturb her, they 

tiptoed back down the stairs and out of the castle into the woods.  

They carried on their way until, outside a large house, they saw a 

pretty girl with her face and arms covered in what looked like black 

soot from a stove.  She was crying and told them that she wanted to go to 

the Ball but had nothing to wear.  The children told her not to worry for  

they were sure that something would turn up so that she could go. She 

thanked them for stopping to hear her sad tale and bid them “good day”. 

They soon came to a clearing in the woods, where a most unusual 

sight  met their eyes. Outside of a little cottage a young man was 

climbing up a large beanstalk that reached  right up to the sky. 

They had not gone much farther when they heard singing,  

“Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to work we go” and saw seven Little folk walking 

and dancing down the path through the woods seeming unaware that 

they, the children, were there. The children then noticed a young woman 

with black hair standing in the doorway of the little house from which  the 

Little folk had come and waving them goodbye.

As they walked away from that happy scene, they saw another 

castle, but this  had only one big, tall tower with a small window at the 

top through which a young lady was uncurling her very long hair 

down to the ground.  Nearby  a handsome young man stood near some

 bushes looking up towards the castle and calling out to the lady asking