As a child I was frightened but equally fascinated by the book illustrations of Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) with their fairies, goblin and other woodland folk who inhabited the dark forests.

For this card I imagined the fairy folk and other creatures of the New Forest undergrowth assembling to greet the arrival of Father Christmas. The photo sessions began with my nieces in their fairy costumes jumping off of a low platform, in imitation of flying. One of our horse characters from the ‘New Forest Ponies at Christmas’ card made a return appearance as a homage to the character ‘Bottom’ in Shakespeare’s fairy fantasy ‘A Mid-Summer Nights Dream’. The hedgehog rider has the Beasy logo on his shield. All the fairies have native British butterflies wings.