Coronavirus: Fairies and mice in creative lockdown trails

If you go out for a walk today you might find some magical creatures have moved in while we have been stuck in lockdown.

Fairy doors have appeared on trees, pebble snakes wind along paths, and Gruffalos lurk in woods.

In one seaside town children are searching high and low after cartoons of mischievous mice appeared.

But some trails have been vandalised, and there is a history of fairies being evicted by councils over fears their homes could harm wildlife.

So where are these magical trails coming from and who is creating them?

After finishing her second-year university assignments in isolation, Angela Marie set about creating a new project.

She started painting fairy doors and hiding them in the nooks of Aberystwyth Castle for children to find.

The little doors each have a message or activity on the back, including "listen to the sea".

Angela, who has four children, said she wanted to give "parents a break" from trying to think of new things to do.

"I miss having little ones around, so it is kind of an excuse to be a child or to do things for kids," she said.

"If they had been younger, just going for a walk and saying can you find fairy doors actually would have given me the breathing space, as a parent, for 15 to 20 minutes a day."

Angela has been going to check on the doors - made of wood and varnished - to check they have not blown away or become litter.

She has found people have been moving them, and she is re-hiding them in the stonework.

"I was up there on Monday and I could hear a mum saying to their child 'Oh look there's a fairy door' and them looking for more, and just that made it worth it," she said.

During lockdown, the seaside village of Aberporth, Ceredigion, has welcomed some new residents.

Mischievous cartoon mice have appeared in nooks and crannies, selling ice cream, using discarded PPE on beaches as tents, and running away from cats.

Children have been searching high and low for the little mice, created by local artist Peter Taylor.

"I've become known as the Aberporth Banksy now, but I can't compare myself, this is just a bit of cartoon fun really," said the 58 year old, who normally paints fine art.

Peter started the quirky trail after noticing children were going out to spot teddies in windows on their daily walks - and painted a little mouse hanging below his window.

"I didn't think anything of it at all, and then someone posted it on Facebook and it just went crazy," said the self-taught artist.

Peter started going out in isolation and painting the mice early in the mornings when no one was about - before posting clues on social media to help children find the cheeky creatures.

"It's a bit like Banksy, I go out in isolation, and then they just seem to suddenly appear and people find them and talk about them," he said.

"It's like the mice are taking over Aberporth while humans are away."

During lockdown, fairies have not only moved into a castle, but woodlands across Wales.

In Miskin, Pontyclun, Brynna and Talbot Green in Rhondda Cynon Taf, there are trees filled with doors and even swings for the magical creatures.

In Cardiff, near the University Hospital of Wales, wooden and PVC fairy doors sit in the trees.

In Withybush Woods, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, unicorns and fairies and even the Easter Bunny have moved into castles and trees scattered with "dream-catchers".

Nikki Jones, who started one of the trails, said it was for her partner's little girls to "enjoy and add to", with bird feeders for them to fill up on their walks.

In 2018, different miniature houses were removed by Pembrokeshire council, fearing they could e harm wild animals.

When three-year-old Sophie went for an adventure in the woods she was upset after not finding a Gruffalo hiding there.

So her grandmother Karen Palmer set about making a trail, hiding characters from her favourite books in the trees near their house in Cardiff.

The signs, with messages from Julia Donaldson's books, suggest activities for children to do near streams, trees and paths.

Karen, a Beaver leader for over 20 years, did a risk assessment to check children would be safe looking for the characters on the trail, and has been upset after a number of the signs went missing.

"Beavers was finished and I was feeling really down in the dumps, I really missed the children and doing stuff with them," she said.

"I've enjoyed doing them and my granddaughter absolutely loves them."

During lockdown Cara Westcott started putting positive messages on pebbles and leaving them on two paths close to her home.

Now more than 1,000 stones, decorated with messages of hope, snake through Cwmparc, Treorchy, and have almost joined, after people from across the local area started adding to them.

"It's just lovely to see, we are going through quite a tough time at the moment and just watching this every day has given us something to do," she said.

Ms Westcott said the Pathway of Hope, which now has social distancing signs due to people stopping to look at the messages, had brought the community together.

"There was an elderly gentleman walking with his wife, someone had put a VE Day pebble, and he stood and saluted the pebble, it just made me fill up," she said.

Now the community is spreading the positivity on Facebook, and is trying to come up with ideas on what to do with the stones after lockdown.