In my February update, you will have noted that I started work on The Foss Fairy Trail website. And for the past few weeks, I’ve been deep in the world of fairies! Working on a major website update for thefossfairytrail.com!
The Foss Fairy Trail is a special place, filled with tiny fairy homes, hidden wonders, and a sprinkle of magic. But while the fairies take care of the trail itself, their online home needed some love too.
✨ A fresh structure & design
One of my main goals has been to make the website easier to navigate while keeping that sense of fairy tale wonder. The old site had lots of charm, but it needed a clearer structure to help visitors find information quickly. Whether they’re planning a visit or just exploring the magic from home.
Key changes:
- 🏡 New homepage – A welcoming space that immediately gives visitors a feel for the magic of the trail.
- 🗺️ Clearer navigation – Easier ways to find trail details, events, and fairy stories.
- 📱 Mobile-friendly design – Since so many visitors will be checking the site on their phones while exploring, the new design works beautifully on all devices.
- 🌿 Nature-inspired aesthetic – The new design reflects the magic of the woods, with soft earthy tones, gentle textures, and subtle fairy touches.
🔧 Embracing full site editing (and the learning curve!)
One of the biggest challenges in this process has been getting to grips with Full Site Editing (FSE) in WordPress. I’ve worked with WordPress for years and feel pretty confident with the technical side of things. However! FSE is a whole different beast!
What’s different about full site editing?
Instead of tweaking themes through the Customiser or editing PHP files, FSE lets you edit the entire site through blocks—headers, footers, templates, everything. On one hand, it’s incredibly flexible. On the other, it’s a steep learning curve, even for someone with a solid technical background.
At first, I found myself fighting against FSE, trying to approach it like traditional WordPress theme editing. But after a lot of trial and error, I started to get into the flow of:
✔️ Using Global Styles to keep the look consistent across pages.
✔️ Building custom template parts to avoid repetitive edits.
✔️ Getting comfortable with block-based layouts, even when they felt a bit clunky.
It hasn’t been the smoothest transition. And I’ll be honest—there have been moments when I have wanted to throw my keyboard out the window! But seeing how much flexibility FSE offers, I can understand why some people love it.
Would I recommend FSE to someone new to WordPress? Not without a lot of patience! It is not for the faint of heart and I have found the documentation not 100% helpful. But for this project, it’s been worth pushing through the initial frustration and getting to learn it. Also dare I say kinda like it.
📖 Fairy blog magic
One of the most exciting additions is the brand-new fairy blog! The Foss Fairy Trail is home to so many unique fairies, each with their own stories, quirks, and daily adventures. Now, visitors can meet the fairies online and learn more about the magical world hidden among the trees.
I’m crafting six fairy tales for launch, each introducing a fairy from the trail. Some are inspired by folklore, while others are completely original. Bringing to life the tiny guardians of the woods, water, and flowers.
🌿 Community collaboration
This project isn’t just about web design—it’s about celebrating the magic of the Foss Fairy Trail with the whole community. I’ve been working closely with the Foss Fairy Trail committee to ensure the updates reflect the heart and soul of the trail.
🛠️ What’s next?
The fairies are still busy behind the scenes, and so am I! There is a lot left to do with the site. I have a few more pages to make and fill with content but I have the bare bones done.
Next on my to-do list:
✔️ Adding more fairy stories to the blog.
✔️ Uploading fairy house photos to bring the trail to life online.
✔️ Final tweaks and testing to make sure the site is as magical as possible before launch.
This has been such a fun project, and I can’t wait to share the finished site with you all. If you love fairies, folklore, and a touch of magic, keep an eye on thefossfairytrail.com—exciting things are coming! And fo let me know what you think of the site. It’s not perfect but I’m getting there.
