You’re driving through a pristine nature reserve, drinking in sights of amazing natural beauty. The road turns. You expect another wonder of flora and fauna and you get … garden gnomes. Not one. Not twenty. HUNDREDS of garden gnomes, placed artistically in a woodland garden beside a well-travelled bend in the road. There are gnomes fishing in the decorative stream. Gnomes working the hillside. Gnomes dressed in English football jerseys while others dance on toadstools. This is Pixieland, and there’s nothing else on Dartmoor like it.

In fact, there’s not much like it in England … though the edges of Dartmoor do have a higher-than average proportion of kid-seducing attractions. This is the kind of place you expect from America, where kids pester their parents for 600 miles of highway to let them "see Rock City" and "visit Ruby Falls". (Yup, I was one of them.) Pixieland’s bizzare collection of garden kitsch is so tacky that it’s cute, and has become a fixture for Dartmoor visitors as enduring as the tors and valleys.

The garden is, of course, the showy draw that gets you to stop into the small shop beside it. Where you can buy … you guessed it … lots of garden gnomes and pixies. If you ever wanted to class up your garden with such statuary, this is the place. I never knew the little people came dressed so many ways and performed so many professions. I dare say Pixiland’s proprietor could come up with a gnome in a white doctor’s coat with a bottle of Prozac in hand, should you wish to bring a special gift to your therapist.

Beyond the humour and the garden gizmos, there’s some other stuff to buy here that even the pixie-averse can warm to. This is one of the best places on Dartmoor to buy sheepskins. Plain, died, sewn together into luxurious carpets. A big, soft skin will cost you less than £30 and makes a great throw rug, seat cover or … in our case … luxury dog bed. The store also carries a wide range of local fudge, post cards, hiking gear and other collectibles.

Don’t pass Pixieland by. You’ll chuckle at the memory for years afterwards. And if you’re very, very good, the owner may even let you borrow a pixie hat from the dress up box and let you get photographed in local costume with the natives.