Ruby Wax's magical 'homemade fairy glen' shows how easily outdoor lighting can transform a garden

Comedian and writer Ruby Wax invites us into her home with a sneak peek at her gorgeous garden oasis, which she calls a magical “homemade fairy glen.”

While Ruby’s at-home oasis is a scaled-down version, she revealed it was inspired by the “real thing” of the 42 Acres retreat at Somerset, somewhere she described as “the kind of place your brain has been waiting for… There’s ancient woodland, wild meadows, water and wildlife.”

Of course, not everyone has the space for ancient woodlands and wildlife in their garden, but Ruby proves how you can achieve a little slice of magic in even the smallest plot. She has turned a small corner of her own garden into a private, enchanting reprieve - and she did it all with some very intentional and easy-to-replicate lighting and staging tricks.

Lighting is the essential detail in Ruby’s homemade fairy glen, with a mixture of colours, bulb sizes, and layered placements creating illusions of depth, softness, and warmth.

By placing lights in the canopy trees, Ruby creates an illusion of depth and size. It’s hard to tell just how big Ruby’s garden is, and perhaps that’s the point.

Mastering this trick can make any small patio feel larger, and Ruby has proven you can also create your own woodland feel, too.

With on-trend festoon lights hanging vertically in the canopy of large trees, Ruby’s homemade fairy glen looks to be endless – a true escape from the real world when she might need it most.

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This idea of creating the feeling of expansiveness through layered lighting is also achieved by the use of different bulbs. Directly above Ruby’s seating area are the warm bulbs - always one of the hottest exterior lighting trends - helping to create softer downlighting without any glare.

But further out, in the top right-hand corner of her image, you can see she’s used dimmer lighting like hanging lanterns to make the garden feel bigger and more layered.

She has also placed some lights underneath the foliage directly behind her wrought iron bench, creating larger shadows and making the plants appear larger and more enveloping.

It's a classic example of the impact of biophilic lighting. Instead of just flooding the whole area with light, knowing the art of subtle placements can really accentuate plants and greenery.

Claire Anstey, Lighting Buyer at British interiors brand Heal’s, previously explained to woman&home, " Biophilic lighting helps diffuse the light softly through foliage, creating an inviting glow once the sun sets.

"Opt for warm-toned bulbs wherever possible; their golden hue creates a relaxed, cocooning ambience that’s ideal for lingering dinner parties and elegant outdoor soirées... Highlight textured leaves, architectural branches, and pockets of greenery to create depth, shadow and a beautifully layered garden after dark".

While the lighting really does help create the idea of a never-ending woodland in Ruby’s Notting Hill garden, she’s also used clever plant placement.

With the mix of sturdy, woody branches and dense shrubbery of differing heights, Ruby has avoided the garden feeling overly designed and kept a sense of wilderness and abundance – the benefit of this, other than the aesthetics of one’s own mini woodland, is that you can build a living privacy screen from any neighbours.

The arching branches of what appears to be a maple tree overhead also help give Ruby’s seating area a secluded courtyard feel – it’s enclosed without being closed off by a pergola or awning.