The Pixie and Fairy Village: A West Coast Road-Trip Attraction that Will Blow Your Mind!

There is a Pixie and Fairy Village two hours north of Cape Town in Jacob’s Bay and if you like quirky adventures, unusual places, mythical creatures and/or offbeat road trips, you HAVE to visit this “world-class” exhibit. There are many hidden gems on the West Coast of South Africa but this one is next-level!

Here Is My Experience of This Charming and Unusual Western Cape Attraction

I don't know how I stumbled upon it, but at some stage about a year or two back, in my obsession with quirky and unusual attractions, I came to discover that there was a Pixie and Fairy Village in the Western Cape. I wanted to visit it immediately but then I realised that it’s located two hours up the West Coast in Jacobs Bay (or “Jacobsbaai” — the Afrikaans version feels more accurate). It seemed like a long way to go in a car without air conditioning all by myself for a short visit. 

  

Fortunately (and although it freaks me out a bit sometimes), Google remembered that I had done quite a deep Google search into this place. When I was given a writing assignment on the West Coast and I decided to take my mother and turn it into an overnight trip, this place popped up on Google Maps. I immediately knew we HAD to go there. 

What We Expected From the Pixie and Fairy Village

Between the website and their Facebook page, the Pixie and Fairy Village is referred to as “world class” — multiple times in fact! Both sources include pics of some pixie and fairy garden ornaments up close. But beyond that, you don’t really get an accurate idea of what to expect or the scale of the place. 

Basically, we knew it would be an “experience”. We didn’t know if it would be an impressive one or an amusingly disappointing one, but either way, we were determined to go! (Well, I was. My mom was kind of indifferent.) For R30 per person though, I knew it would make for a great story one way or another.

How the Pixie and Fairy Village Was Established

According to the website, the proprietor 'Mama Pixie' or 'Pixie Maritz' was adopted by her grandparents and grew up on a farm Mpanza in KwaZulu-Natal. Here, she spent many days and hours in the forests and rivers looking for the mythical river fairies from traditional Zulu folklore. 

Personally, I did not meet Mama Pixie so I cannot confirm whether or not she is in fact a pixie or a human, but having experienced the results of her creativity and imagination, I have to say that I am a fan. 

Their receptionist, however, could do with a bit of training when it comes to her people skills. (She looks like she could be related to my friend Bron.)

Contributing artists include Clifford Nooi, Dickson Andrew, Marcell Schoeman (Maximillan), Gerrie Maritz. It took three years to create and it was officially inaugurated in 2017.

What We Experienced

Yup, I started photographing oversized toadstools before we even entered the property! I was excited. 

After parking the car and entering the venue, we were greeted with this gong:

There were garden gnomes all over the place and by this stage, I kinda just assumed that I was already experiencing the Pixie and Fairy Village in all of its fullness. 

Eventually, we came to this sign:

According to the website, “Mama Pixie feels that each pixie and fairy in the Village has taken on a spirit of their own and has their own identity", so she requests that children do not touch them, so as not to disturb their "peaceful village experience".

When I came to this exhibit, I assumed that this is what we had come to see and I wasn’t even disappointed: 

As I was examining all the tiny details, a member of staff approached us and directed us to the shop to pay. Then he led us to what was actually the official gate / entrance of the Pixie and Fairy Village. I guess as considerate of the fairies as they’d like us to be, they seem to be working hard to keep them from escaping their enclosure.

Fairies, are you okay? We might have another #freeBritney situation on our hands!

I was not prepared for what lay beyond the gate.

We entered a 600-square metre garden filled with intricately designed fairy houses and palaces, cascading water features, oversized toadstools and hundreds of fairy, pixie and gnome statues. The gentle sounds of flowing streams, the sight of succulents and the ornate fairy palaces create an experience that is calming, exhilarating and completely surreal.  It turns out that “world class” was not an exaggeration.

I took so many pictures and videos and none of them do the place justice but here are a few anyway:

Rodrigo Flamingo: The one garden ornament you wont see there if you visit

Note to self for when I return (and I will return): Take more photos/videos of yourself with the pixies and fairies for scale.

We Saw: 

• Pixies

• Fairies

• Pregnant fairies

• Fairies riding unicorns

How did I not get a better picture? I love unicorns!

• Naked fairies

• Gnomes

• I’d-rather-my-children-don’t-see-this gnomes / Also known as “Gnomes that should come with trigger warnings”

• Castles

• This guy (Gulliver I believe - he's human-sized)  

• And a random giraffe just because. 

But wait, there’s more!

You Can Contribute Your Own Fairy or Pixie to the Pixie and Fairy Village!

When I read on the website that they “graciously accept any donations of pixies or fairies to the Pixie and Fairy Village,” I knew I had to do that! The problem was I was not prepared to part with my garden gnomes, so I had to find a fairy that I was not personally attached to. It’s easy to believe that fairy ornaments are widely available until you actually want to buy one!

After searching a number of shops near my house during a last-minute shopping trip the day before our trip, I found this thing at a discount store, which was the only thing close to a fairy that I could find: 

It is technically a cherub that had been left over from Christmas, but for 40 whole rand (yes, more than my entrance fee to the fairy and pixie village), I bought it, took it home and repurposed it into a fairy using some acrylic paint. 

Viola!

If you go to the Pixie and Fairy Village, be sure to look for her and let me know if you find her. 

Clue:

 

Of course, we had to take her on a bit of an adventure before delivering her to her forever home:

Please suggest a name for her?

Actually, I don’t know if that’s how it works. If Mama Pixie is right, she may just take on a spirit of her own and her own identity. I hope it’s a nice one and not like those of her friends… 

I'm not sure if it was the fact that we made too much noise (I was excited, okay?) or the fact that we disguised a cherub as a fairy and left an imposter in their village, or something else altogether, but we angered the fairies and they took their revenge on my car:  

Fairy faeces

Also Found on Site Is:

• A succulent nursery
• A coffee shop
• A fairy shop - A shop sells various items including miniature fairies, pixies, fairy houses, dream catchers, incense, clothes and other interesting items. 
• The Jacobs Bay Backpackers - the site also houses the Jacobs Bay Backpackers, so if you want to stay close to the fairies, you can. But I wasn’t going to make my mother stay in a backpackers, so we continued on our way to Paternoster.  

Apparently, the venue also caters to events, including “intimate weddings”. A pixie and fairy wedding? Yes please! (If anyone hears of one, please let me know so I can gate-crash it! - I’m happy to bear the brunt of more fairy rage and will budget for another car wash.)

Where is The Pixie and Fairy Village?

You can find it just off the Jacobsbaai Road before you enter the town here.

How Much Does It Cost To Visit the Pixie and Fairy Village?

Entrance for "adults" like me costs R30. It's R20 for kids and pensioners. Honestly, this may be the best R30 I’ve ever spent in my life!!

Pixie and Fairy Village Opening Times

Mamma Pixie's creation, the Pixie and Fairy Village, is open 7 days a week, from 9:00am to 5:00pm.

For more information, you can find their website here and Facebook page here. 

In Closing: 

Yes, the Pixie and Fairy Village IS every bit as “world class” as it is described online. Go there. It’s worth the two-hour drive from Cape Town even if you turn around and come straight home again afterwards. 

Of course, that’s not what my mother and I did. Read more about our West Coast road trip here: 

And for other unusual attractions closer to Cape Town, read this.