Woodland authorities crack down on fairy doors

Authorities have been forced to launch a crackdown on fairy doors after hundreds have been placed on trees in a Somerset woodland.

According to the BBC, "fairy control" has started in Wayford Woods, Crewkerne, after a "profusion of elfin construction".

The little doors are thought to have been put on the tree by local people so children can "leave messages for the fairies".

A number of pictures of the fairy doors have been uploaded to Twitter and Flickr.

But the trustees of Wayford Woods say the trees are being overtaken by the brightly-coloured doors.

Trustee Steven Acreman said: "We've got little doors everywhere. We're not anti-fairies but it's in danger of getting out of control."

Speaking to the Western Morning News, Acreman added: "It's a very complex situation and nobody's admitting that they're evicting the fairies.

"It's just that fairy control is required otherwise we'd be covered in fairy doors.

"We've had as many as 10 doors put up on a single tree, they surrounded the tree."

The first fairy door appeared in 2000, and was hand-crafted with hinges, a handle and even a little bed behind it.

Acreman said: "It fitted perfectly, it had a little turned handle and inside was a bed. We didn't know who had done it but we left it there.

"But then another door appeared and now it's gathered momentum."

He said that the doors are getting "more and more garish" with "lots of tinsel and glittery stuff", adding: "We put a lot of time into the conservation of the woods. We're trying to keep people to the paths but the fairy doors are making it a free-for-all."

According to the Daily Telegraph, it's not the only place in the UK where fairy doors can be found.

Furze Gardens in the New Forest has around 30, but they are reasonably discreet and made my a specialist thatcher.

One woman, Philippa Edmunds, has even made a living out of them, creating her firm called Fairydoorz, which is stocked at Harvey Nichols.

She said she even makes them for skirting boards indoors, adding: "It's a bit of magic for children. Everybody wants a bit of tradition in a world of computer games. It's going back to something completely innocent."

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