Barrmill held its first ever Fairy Festival recently.

The magical event at the park was organised by Carrick Crawford of Barrmill Conservation Group in conjunction with Winslow School of Art.

With stalls, cute peacock chicks, face painting, fairy crafts, storytelling, a treasure hunt and much more, the event was an enchanting experience for all the family.

Making perfect use of the scenic Vale Grove walk through the old quarry, an interactive storyline with painted wooden characters was devised by Carrick’s multi-talented daughter, Ava Campbell Crawford.

The illustrated trail taught children about the changing seasons and cycle of life.

The trail portrayed how Grand Wizard Helios, custodian of the Barrmill Gardens and God of the Sun (played by Carrick), had been cursed by the Winter Fairy Queen. Enchanted by her magic, Helios’ crusade was to remove all the gnomes, tenders of the flowers, protectors of the land and pollinating bees, so life itself would fail and the world would then plunge into eternal Winter.

Children met different fairies along the trail who gave them various tasks to help lift the curse.

Carrick said: “Despite the wet weather, a day of fun was had by all, with the community centre jammed full of stalls including face painting by Dionne Strachan, fairy painting and crafts with Michelle Winslow, garden fairy doors and unicorns and of course a feast of goodies and decorated fairy cakes to tempt the palate.

“Our trio of real peacock chicks provided some novel excitement and photo opportunities taken against the huge Vale Olympia Fairyland photo backdrop.”