A view looking upstream over a glass-like watercourse which flows in the middle distance between steep rocky cliffs, wooded to the left and on the cliff tops, the leaves brown and red; mossy rocks in left foreground and leaves on the water's surface.

This painting of Fairy Glen, an enchanting gorge near Bettws-y Coed, North Wales, was given to the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary by the artist in 1893, the year of their marriage. A Gloucester newspaper reported that '"The Fairy Glen" which has left Mr Acton Butt's studio for York Cottage, Sandringham, is an excellent example of the artist's style, and certainly one of his best efforts. The Glen, with its deep calm pool of darkling water in the foreground, and with rocky rift leading away to a purple distance of autumnal colouring, is admirable in drawing and harmonious in tone…It is a picture of nature in a gladsome mood.'

The striking beauty of the Glen was captured by a number of Victorian artists, including Thomas Creswick (1811-69) (no date, Sheffield Museums) and Reginald Aspinall (1858-1921) (dated 1876, Harris Museums & Art Gallery). Indeed, the area surrounding Bettws-y-Coed was a haven for artists during the nineteenth century.

A view of the 'Stepping Stones, Bettws-y-Coed', 1868 by John Syer (1815-85) was presented to the Duke and Duchess of York by the inhabitants of Bristol on the occasion of their wedding in 1893 (RCIN 405259). King George V acquired a painting by Benjamin Williams Leader of the same area in 1914 (RCIN 405373).