Having a fairy house in your yard can be a magical discovery among the flowers and plants. They provide a warm and safe place for fairies of all kinds to lay their head and pass the night if they are passing through, or set up a permanent home when they want to settle down. These can be hidden away and difficult to find, as they like their privacy, or tucked into a corner where they can find shade in the summer and warmth in the winter.
What Type of Fairy Lives Here?
There are many types of fairy homes, as they all have different living styles and preferences. If you have a home within a tree stump or within a tree trunk it is most likely home for a forest fairy or a tree fairy. They like to be close to the earth and remain connect to the trees and forest at all times. This is a place where they feel safe and it is familiar to them, they can build long term homes here and stay for years. Often built in hidden areas where they won’t be spied upon, these fairies enjoy being outside and may prefer to have some outdoor space as well.
Flower Fairies
Flower fairies prefer to build their homes in or around the flowers. They will often choose a home that appears to be a flower turned upside down, or live within an upturned flower. For long term homes they will require homes that appear to be flowers but are not, so as to blend in with the flowers around them and create a comfortable area to hide. They do not want to be watched or spotted so they keep their homes hidden as much as they can. Some flower fairies will still prefer a cottage home, and these are easily decorated with moss, flowers, and vines to keep the aesthetic and allow them to better camouflage into their surroundings.
Cloud Fairies
Cloud fairies make their homes in the clouds or other high areas. They prefer to observe the world from above and see what is coming and where their friends are. Often found with rainbow fairies they enjoy the views and the peace that comes from being so far up. They are frequently found spending time with the waterfall fairies as behind a waterfall is a wonderful place to be high up and hidden. The homes found behind a waterfall can offer a new view of the world through the curtain of water and the way the light reflects off of it creates rainbows throughout.
When you find a fairy home, or invest the time to create one in a place around your home that feels welcoming and suited to a fairy home, you will know what type of fairy lives in that home. If you want to attract these fairies to our location, build a home that they can love and that will bring joy to the space.
Building a Fairy Home
People can create homes for fairies and add the whimsey their yard or area, and it can help fairies to feel at home in your space. Begin with finding a space for the home that will allow them to be seen for small amounts of time, and that will be safe from feet and paths, and that they will feel confident is safe from people. Make the home out of something naturally occurring in the area when you can, or purchase a ready made one. Alternatively you can select a log or a space in the flower garden that looks appropriate and purchase pieces to build the home within.
Add a small door that they can access but that animals and pests can not, and add some decorations that will make it easy to see it is a home. Many will include small gardens outside the home and build windows and a porch. Water fairies may enjoy a water wheel, while forest fairies might require a small chimney for their winter fires. Moss is a natural insulator that can help the home stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer, while adding colour that allows it to blend with it’s surroundings. Close proximity to a vegetable garden ensures the fairies will have a reliable food source for their stay.
Finding a Fairy Home
If you have found a fairy home it is best to observe it without touching it, and you can leave small gifts or decorations if you like. When it is somewhere you go often you can visit as frequently as you like, and maintaining a safe and respectful distance will not be bothersome to those who live near it. If you find one in the forest or near waterfalls it is important not to disturb it, but you can take pictures to remember where you found it and return another day. You can watch how they change over the months or years, and enjoy the fun that they add.
A fairy house can add magic to the space and encourage involvement in the environments around them, as they serve as a reminder that what happens to the environment affects everything and everyone. Fairy homes are built with local resourced items and can be well hidden or proudly displayed, but are created to fit in with their environment.
They cause no disturbance to those around them and do not damage the location at all. Children in particular love to find a fairy home and imagine who may live in it and how they spend their time, they encourage imagination and teach about how thins can be created from items found in yards, fields, and forests. For adults they add a sense of romance or a reminder of the magic that surrounds everyone. Offering a peek at other ways of life and how to source items for decoration and building. These are easily found in cities and towns as well as gardens waterfalls, forests, and even near beaches.
