A SPRINKLE OF
FAIRY VILLAGE CREATES
WARM MEMORIES FOR KELLY FAMILY
STORY AND PHOTOS BY TAMARA GREGOR
DON AND NETA KELLY STAND NEXT TO THE FAIRY VILLAGE THEY MADE AT THEIR HOME .
A
sprinkle of fairy dust can take the imagination a long way from home .
It ’ s this touch of enchantment that led Don and Neta Kelly , of Duncan , to create a fairy village in their own backyard .
From tiny houses connected by a cobblestone pathway to bridges crossing over the river stream , this quaint village was made to resemble an English Cotswold village with stone houses , a church , a farm house , a cabbage patch and vegetables , river walks and animals running around .
What started with a little onedoor house inside a tree , became an enchanted settlement of several houses along a pathway that branches out into the couple ’ s yard .
“ I ’ ve been there before ,” Neta said of her village , adding it just took a bit of imagination to recreate the scene that now resides in her back garden .
While the Kellys began work on their yard 37 years ago when the land consisted of only four trees and some grass , Neta teased it was a five-year project that remains in progress , but said the fairy garden is around
14 years old . “ It gets bigger every time ,” she said .
The village began when her grandchildren were small . That ’ s when they began talking about fairies together and reading fairy books . Neta said this is when she began seeing all of the possibilities to create her own little fairy village .
“ I started collecting stuff ,” she said . “ My kids , if they see something , they get it and send to me .”
Eventually , Neta added a mill to the set up , which caused her to take the pathway into another
DUNCAN MAGAZINE | WINTER 2022 9