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Before we begin...
I would like you to meet two special little characters...
Tilly Fairy & Bodkin Jack are the best of friends. They live in Whispering Wood, nestled deep in Wildwell Hollow, Tilly Fairy in Toadstool Cottage and Bodkin Jack in Tree Stump House. You can easily spot Bodkin Jack amongst the chestnut-haired bodkins, with his wild blond curls and eyes the colour of hazelnuts. If it was not for her tell-tale wings, you might think Tilly Fairy was his sister, as she too has blond hair, long and wavy...
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"But my eyes are blue."
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Indeed they are, as blue as the summer sky Tilly Fairy.
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"We share the woods with animals as well as fairies and bodkins. There are deer, stoats, bees, butterflies..."
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Lots of wildlife Tilly Fairy, but I hadn't got to that bit just yet! I was going to talk about bodkins...
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"I love bodkins."
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I know you do, one in particular!
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Bodkins are kindly people who know a lot about nature, can build just about anything and always have the most useful things in their handy rucksacks.
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"I pack my rucksack every day."
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Oh, Bodkin Jack you're here too! Would you like to explain a little more?"
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"Sometimes I pull things out that I don't even remember putting in there. I'm not sure I ever did. They are usually the most useful things of all."
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Like a net or a compass?
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"Yes, and Tilly Fairy is always filling my rucksack with fresh muffins and cookies, that's where the crumbs come from, and I usually have a flask of hot tea."
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Shall I say a few words now Bodkin Jack?
"Or I could. We don't have wings like the fairies, but lots of us have flying ponies. Mine is called Pip, he's white. All I have to do is blow my whistle twice and he appears."
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"Fairies start life with one set of wings..."
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Oh, Tilly Fairy, are we back on you now?
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"Of course! Each time we deliver an act of kindness, we get a little closer to to earning our second wings."
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What is an act of kindness?
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"Um, when I turned the woodlouse back onto his tummy so he could go home for tea, and when I fished the litter out of Selkies Lake before the baby newts got stuck inside."
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Oh, that is kind. Shall I explain about your adventures Tilly Fairy and Bodkin Jack?
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"Oh yes, please do."
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As the seasons pass, Tilly Fairy and Bodkin Jack spend their long days exploring Wildwell Hollow; Whispering Wood, Selkies Lake, Swallowtail Meadow...
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"And Monarch Moor!"
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Thank you Bodkin Jack.
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Discovering the magic of nature, the two friends are truly in awe of its beauty and wonder. They are curious of its craftiness, bamboozled by the bizarre, intrigued by its intelligence and star struck by its splendour.
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"You could just say we think wildlife is amazing! Did you know that baby dragonflies don't have wings, look quite scary and can live under water for two years?"
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Gosh no I didn't Bodkin Jack.
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"And they breathe out their bottoms!"
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Good grief Tilly Fairy, I'm not sure everyone wants to hear that!
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"Of course they do!"
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OK, where was I? Ah yes...
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The two best friends respect nature and want to learn from it, to be better fairies and bodkins by absorbing nature's wisdom.
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"And we always share our stories with the other fairies and bodkins and get them to come out and explore too, because they're not going to care about nature unless they love it."
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I see Bodkin Jack, so you hope your stories will help them to care the way you two do.
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"Yes, about wildlife and about each other. To make sure everything in Wildwell Hollow is happy and healthy. It's just about being kind really. Bodkins and fairies need nature and nature needs us. It's simple!"
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That's a very special message Bodkin Jack. Tilly Fairy, do some of your adventures involve fairy dust?
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"Oh, just a sprinkle, very occasionally. Nature is magic without fairy dust!"
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Indeed it is!