Witch hunting in Burley

With the end of October approaching fast and deadlines starting to line up, especially the dreaded deadline to hand in my dissertation abstract (!!). I have more than enough to fill my days up with. That’s why it’s nice when I get an excuse to do something else and go on a small adventure!

This weekend I went on a small adventure to the New Forest and a little village called Burley. I hadn’t heard about Burley before and that it is supposedly quite famous due to witchcraft in the 1950’s.

And if you, like me, haven’t heard about it then I will explain what it is all about.

In the 50’s a woman named Sybil Leek lived in the village. She was a so-called 'white witch', which means that she was a witch using her powers for good and not evil. However, the locals did not appreciate this and it eventually forced Sybil Leek to relocate to America, where she continued to pursue studying astrology and the occult.

The locals might not have liked it back then, but today it actually makes them great business – especially now that Halloween is coming up!

The story of Sybil Leek found in a shop in Burley

Burley is in the middle of New Forest and not far from Lymington, which I’ve been to before. By car it took us around 30 minutes driving there and despite the village being very small there are a few things you can do.

We visited all the local shops where they among other things sell Burley homemade caramel, which is so nice it's worth the trip out there alone! There are also a couple of places to eat and it is a perfect spot for a Sunday lunch.

The locals went to not wanting to be associated with witchcraft to now having shops based on it!

I did not see any witches, but we did meet some New Forest ponies and even drove past some wild pigs. On the way home we stopped by beautiful Lymington for a coffee and some antique shopping.

Some of the villages in New Forest have amazing antique shops where you can find so many nice and unique things like jewelry and home decorations.

The best part of all of this is that we left home around 11am and got back right after 4pm. In other words, you don’t have to set off a whole day for this. This goes for most of the villages in the New Forest; they are all so easy to get to.

Now I have some more inspiration to what I can dress up as for Halloween and I hope you might be inspired to explore the New Forest!

Alexandra