Burley, New Forest travel guide and Burley information

Visit Burley

Burley is a village well located in the south-west of the New Forest.

A popular place with tourists in the region, it is very picture-postcard pretty...but also rather given over to tourism. There are many gift shops, pubs, tea-shops etc in Burley. But don't let that deter you from visiting, the village centre is authentic 'old England', with plenty of thatched properties and red brick houses to enjoy.

Visit Burley

As elsewhere in the New forest, horses come before people and you may find yourself in a small traffic jam waiting for a pony to leave the road!

Burley also claims a 'link' with witches, including a well known white witch (Sybil Leek) who captured the public attention in the middle of the 20th century, and lived here in Burley in the 1950's with her pet jackdaw.

This connection with witches has also been taken up by the tourist industry and there are ample oportunities in the village to pick up a magical spell or two - although apparently Sybil Leek's own shop in the village only sold antiques, nothing related to witchcraft.

Be sure to visit the Queen's Head pub for more history - the pub dates from the 17th century and was once an important meeting point for New Forest smugglers.

There are plenty of attractive walks that can be followed in the surrounding forest, and Burley also has a bike hire shop. During the summer it is also possible to take a ride around Burley in a horse-drawn wagon.

credit: photo by karenwithak

You can find more local travel ideas in the New Forest guide and the