IT took a fairy to settle a jovial dispute about our village pub’s new signage. ‘I think that’s a harebell, rather than a bluebell,’ declared one patron, and the matter was cleared by examining the flower’s flared petals, familiar from The Song of the Harebell Fairy, from Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies of the Summer, in which they chime for fairy feasts and balls.
Barker’s miniature residents of woodlands, hedgerows and flowerbeds appeared in print in 1923 and have since gone on to enjoy a global popularity that might have surprised their modest creator. The daughter of a seed merchant, she originally took up drawing to escape the confines of her childhood bed, to which she had been relegated by severe illnesses, including epilepsy (she credited the Pre-Raphaelites and Kate Green- away among her lifelong sources of inspiration).
Details reflected those seen in the meadows: the primrose fairy has wings modelled on a brimstone
Her father encouraged her, but tragedy soon hit again, when he died suddenly in 1912. Ingenuity saw the family through, with Barker helping out by selling her illustrations. In 1923, she managed to publish her Flower Fairies of the Spring, although it was a muted beginning that hardly hinted at the phenomenal success to come. Two years later came the book that would change her life: Flower Fairies of the Summer.
Denne historien er fra March 08, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra March 08, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds