A MAGICAL new garden will be unveiled at a popular Hampshire park today.

The Royal Victoria Country Park will welcome visitors to an official grand opening of its new Fairy Garden at 3pm this Sunday.

It will feature an enormous cedar tree sculpture of castles, turrets, fairies and a dragon, as well as a picnic area guarded by a wizard.

There will be activities for all ages including facepainting, music and crafts.

They form part of a project by the park to give new life to an ancient cedar tree which had to be felled having become diseased.

After standing for more than 140 years its stump and remaining wood have now been transformed into the fairy garden, including a super-size picnic table.

The garden aims to remind people that negative perceptions can be changed and good can come from something that has been thrown away.

The Fair Ways Foundation commissioned professional wood sculptor Chris Bain to carve the stump into the medieval theme and, with the support of students and staff from three Fair Ways schools, has cleared the surrounding area and installed the picnic area.

Chairman for Fair Ways Foundation, Ian Davies, said: "Fair Ways Foundation is proud to donate the Fairy Garden to Royal Victoria Country Park and Hampshire County Council. The cedar tree had been partly felled due to disease but now starts a new life as a fantastic attraction to generations of visitors to the Park."

Fair Ways is a children’s services provider on the south coast, delivering fostering, education, health, outreach, and residential services for children and young people.