Crewkerne, Somerset

Not out of the woods yet

Some of my readers noticed that my previous post, about the tiny doors that have appeared in tree trunks in a wood in Somerset, was written on April 1st. I thought its unusual subject and slightly tongue-in-cheek tone were appropriate for April Fools' Day. However, the most remarkable thing about the story is that, in substance at least, it's true. There are tiny doors in the wood (though no doubt full-size humans put them there), and they have been proliferating, and those who look after the woodland are indeed putting their feet down. Should my readers be in any doubt, there are accounts – pre-April 1st accounts – of the business in reputable British organs such as The Guardian and (if you prefer) The Telegraph, and on the BBC website too. Only in England...

Normal blogging service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Crewkerne, Somerset

Doors to another dimension

In deepest Somerset, the planning system has been sent into panic by the little people. Yes, that’s fairies, not at the bottom of the garden but in Wayford Woods near Crewkerne. It appears the little blighters have been settling down in hollow trees and erecting tiny doors for their homes. And there's the rub – there are scores of doors and they are in variable architectural taste. Some of the doors are Gothic, some vernacular, some just plain odd.

The more garish doors don't appeal to the locals, or to the trustees of the woodland where the small people have taken up residence, and rumour has it that even some of the fairies themselves (they're a shy people, after all) are put off by many of the additions. The last straw came when a fairy playground was also put up amidst the trees. "We're not anti-fairy. But we've got little doors everywhere," lamented one of the wood's trustees. So fairy control has become necessary in the Crewkerne area, and the hope is that, moderation being the best policy, and perhaps also the best planning policy, some of the outré additions will be removed, restoring the woodland to something like its former glory. The time is ripe for change.
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Photograph by Amber Pritchard, sourced from the BBC News website