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‘When I was a child I got a strong sense that there were creatures living in our garden other than the usual birds and insects. When I played outside during twilight or as it was getting dark, I would frequently see movement in the grass or among the plants. A few times, I saw very tiny beings in the garden, carrying small, very bright lamps. They were very wispy and long-haired, quite ghostly, almost transparent in form. I was a very easily scared child, but I never felt scared of them, although I felt nervous about getting too close in case they wanted me to go with them. I frequently looked for them during the day, but never saw any – although I used to imagine the scattering of flowers and leaves around the garden was them.’ ‘Almost ghostly – quite wispy and not quite opaque. Very pale. Almost like very unkempt children – very long hair, clothing that was very light, shimmery, but almost ripped and torn in layers, bare feet.’ ‘Light, upbeat, almost medieval-sounding music – like a flute and lyre maybe.’ ‘It wasn’t scary, and I was scared of lots of things. Something just felt right that they were fairies. I’m entirely open to the idea that I loved fairies so much, and had read so much Narnia, Faraway Tree, etc, that I conjured them up really vividly in my own imagination. But to me they were totally real, and I have always believed in fairies, both before and since. I used to try and call them up when I was a kid, half scared that I was doing real magic and they would come, and half disappointed that they didn’t. But I always thought there was a chance that they might. So I guess I just believed really strongly in them, and I just knew straight away when I saw them, what they were.’ [Fairies are] natural beings that are made up of energy, or maybe the echoes of previous generations of the land. I think they are probably guardians of the natural world (we have an indigenous expression in New Zealand of kaitiaki, that expresses this).’