The Cheyanne Forest trilogy is set in a make believe property located in the Southwest of Western Australia. The neighbouring Deep Forest and realm of the Hidden Elves, with the city of Eldenveld, are also set in a make believe world.
A Magical World
As Tilly and her twin cousins, Zach and Jess, explore Cheyanne Forest, the magical world becomes apparent, as they meet all kinds of mythical creatures, including Jenny and Kristy the cousin fairies, Wilber the gnome, Mort the goblin, and Witney the good witch.
The Main Characters
Tilly is the eldest of three and lives with her parents and younger brother James, and sister Jasmine in Perth. She enjoys the outdoors, adventures, art and athletics.
Jess and Zach are twins and live with their parents in Dunsborough. Jess is a shy girl who enjoys reading and playing games. She isn’t a fan of the outdoors and prefers to stay out of the spotlight. Zach is into sports and likes being outdoors. He is interested in the design of structures and becomes enchanted with the different homes the children discover in the magical world.
Opa, who owns Cheyanne Forest, is an ancient human, having lived well beyond the scope of a typical human life span. It becomes apparent that Opa is a magical human, and it eventually comes to light that he is a wizard. Opa’s home is also unusual as the floors get wider each level up. Normally, floors are the same size or the width is reduced each level up.
Cheyanne, who the forest is named after, has been captured by an evil witch called Cleo. The children discover that he is a seer with the ability to see into the past as well as the future.
Cleo, the evil witch, also disguises herself as an old woman and tricks the children into trusting her as she sends them towards her castle located in the Deep Forest. She also sends teams of Evil Elves and Goblins to go after the children, to capture them, before they are able to reach her castle. Opa and their forest friends have to enter the Deep Forest, to find them and rescue them.
Sizes of the characters
The fairies, gnomes, witches, and goblins are all around ten centimeters tall. (About half the size of a human adult’s hand.) The elves are a similar size to humans.
Shrinking and growth potions
During the story, all the characters take growth and shrinking potions to suit their needs based on the events taking place in the story. So, humans can become the size of fairies, gnomes, witches, and goblins, and vice versa. The potions can last up to three days, depending on the strength of the potion. The individual will find themselves reverting back to their normal size at that point, however, this is ill advised to allow since the body will not shrink or grow back in a straightforward manner. That is to say, it may be the right arm and then a left leg that grows or shrinks back to size, leaving the rest of the body in its shrunken or grown size. It can also potentially happen at an inconvenient time. So, it’s recommended that a shrinking or growth potion, as is relevant to the normal size of the individual, be taken before the tree days is up.
Fairies
Fairies live in trees. They either live within the main trunk of the tree, which can be located at any height within the trunk, or within a tree-house located up within the branches of the tree. Tree houses are made from all types of materials, the coconut shell being just one of the many materials used.
Jenny’s home has a green door and is located within Cheyanne Forest, not far from the carpark on the edge of Opa’s property. Her home is at ground level within the trunk of a large tree. They have special dynamite potion which is used to hollow out the trunk of the tree, whilst still allowing the tree to stay alive, and then the walls, stairs, fixtures and fittings, are all moulded into place within the tree’s trunk. Even the bed is sculpted from the trees wood within its trunk and the stairs wind around the edges of the trunk as they head to the higher levels of the fairy’s home.
Kristy’s home is a tree-house and is also located within Cheyanne Forest, not far from Jenny’s home. It’s a little further away from the carpark then Jenny’s home. Kristy’s home is located up within the branches of a tree and its trunk has been hollowed out for a lift to be fitted within the trunk. Whilst fairies are able to fly to their homes, not all of their visitors can, and there are times when they are also tired, and their wings aren’t able to carry them so high.
Gnomes
Gnomes live in mushroom houses which are grown within circular groves of trees and are culled when a gnome wishes to build their home. The homes are scooped out according to the gnome’s design for their home and typical fixtures and fittings are added. A potion is applied to the mushroom to ensure that the poison will not affect the gnomes and to also ensure that the home won’t wither away.
Wilber lives in a mushroom house, which is actually two red capped mushrooms which have converged together at their caps. This means that there are two mushroom stems that form a part of his home. One stem has a spiralling staircase within it, which heads up to the living, kitchen, dining, library and common areas. The other stem has a pole that goes down the centre of it and is attached to the ceiling within the area where his bedroom and bathroom are located a few steps down from the main living areas.
Witches
Witches make their homes in all kinds of places. They are often similar to a human’s home, although smaller, but they are also made out of all sorts of items, teapots, boots, teacups turned upside down, are just some items they’ve been known to use.
Witney is a good witch who lives in a boothouse within Cheyanne Forest, not far from where Wilber’s mushroom house is. Witney’s home has a number of levels within the leg section of the boot, including an office which also has a spare bed in it, a bathroom, her bedroom, which has a balcony, and the attic, which is the spare bedroom. In the main part of the boot are the living areas. The combined kitchen and dining room is located within the heel of the boot and has two circular windows on either side of the heel. There are a few steps down from the kitchen (following the heal to the lower part of the boot) into the library and entry section of her home and the loungeroom is located within the toe section.
Cleo was a good witch who turned evil. She lives in a human sized castle within the Deep Forest. The castle is made from large sandstone blocks and has beautiful stained glass windows which colour the light as it shines onto the walls, floors, and furnishings of the castle.
Goblins
Goblins live in a variety of places including forts and castles. They are versatile in their choice of home.
Mort lives in a fort which is situated on an island within a small pond within Cheyanne Forest, to the left as you exit the carpark along the walking trail. The four corners of the fort, as well as the central living structure, are made from large rocks. Remember that gnomes are not big, so a large rock to us, is a massive boulder to them. The rocks are sculpted out using silent dynamite potion and then the various rooms, floors, fixtures and fittings, windows and doors, are all created within its surface. The walls that link the four boulders are trees which have been grown so closely together that they merge in some locations. There are two rows of trees which form each of the four walls around the fort. Between these two rows of trees are tree top walks, made from planks of wood, that hang from all the trees. There is a large lily leaf that can be opened and closed to create a bridge over the moat when it’s lowered down and a door to the fort when it’s pulled into the up position.
The Evil Goblins live in a camp within the Deep Forest. It is not far from the old woman’s hut.
Elves
The Hidden Elves live within the hidden forest which is east of Cheyanne Forest. The city is at the center of this area and is called Eldenveld. The castle is a beautiful stone castle which is surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge to gain entry. The city has a number of sections which make it hard to navigate from one of the gates to the castle as there is no direct path there and there are many gates which can be closed to stop entry to the inner sections.
The Evil Elves live a bit further south, south-west, from Cleo’s castle, within the Deep Forest, in what is called the defense castle as it has a number of different sections that lead up towards the castle itself. Gaining access to these sections, once the single gate is closed, is next to impossible.
Maps of the Forests
