Drawings by Ton van de Ven (above) and original designer, Anton Pieck (below) for Dutch theme park, Efteling—an enchanted place remembered very fondly by the present author. It’s not a park that relies on one or two big fairground attractions and the rest is filler and souvenir shops: it’s a deep, dreamlike world and there is magic in every corner. Even the trashcans talk to you, and say “Thank you” when you throw something in them.
If my love of dark fantasy and folklore has its origins somewhere, it has to be there, among the high, whispering trees, haunted clock towers and mysterious, shimmering lakes of Efteling. I used to envy the birds that lived there.
