Generations of admirers have enjoyed the delicate charm of Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies. Throughout her childhood she excelled at painting and drawing using children from her sister’s nursery as models for her enchanting fairies. The illustrations she created combine a delicate charm with meticulous botanical accuracy.
See them at this new exhibition at the Garden Museum which celebrates the centenary of the earliest publication of the first Flower Fairy illustrations. Over 40 original Flower Fairies paintings are on display, alongside previously unseen sketchbooks, drawings and research materials.
All exhibitions at The Garden Museum tend to be on the small side – and this is no exception with just one room of pictures on display. But little ones will enjoy dressing up in the fairy costumes and there’s a great program of events running alongside the exhibition – our advice is to visit when there’s something on to get the most from an outing. Here’s what’s on:
Storytelling – 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th August
Fun with fairy cakes – 13th and 20th August
Make a fairy headdress – 16th August
Magical fairy gardens – 23rd and 30th August
Make a fairy wind-catcher – 31st August
Weekend family feasts – 11th and 25th August
Family cooking sessions – 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th August
Floristry Workshop with Freddie’s Flowers – 14th and 28th August
Flower Fairies watercolour and paper art workshop – 9th September
