The New Forest Fairy Festival

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Last Saturday we paid a visit to The New Forest Fairy Festival in Burley. We’d taken Darcie last year when she was four months old when she was too young to really appreciate what was going on but the excitement of having a baby girl to take to a fairy festival was too strong for me to resist! This year however she was able to enjoy the day a lot more. As she is now walking, she just loves having space to roam and explore and all the bright colours and music at the festival were an added bonus too.

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The Fairy Festival is held next to Burley Manor in Burley which is a small village in the New Forest, a lot of it’s history is to do with witchcraft and magic so it is really the perfect location for a festival like this. The festival has something for everyone and even if fairies aren’t really your cup of tea, which they definitely aren’t Dan’s, you can still have a lovely day out. If you do decide to pay the festival a visit next year, be warned that people really do go all out with their costumes. Last year I wore a token flower headband and this year I dressed Darcie in a tutu, both times eliciting a small eye roll from Dan. But when you arrive and see grown men dressed as Elves and Treemen and the most extravagant tutus and fairy wings that you ever could imagine, trust me you’ll feel seriously under dressed! I’m looking forward to next year when Darcie will probably be more interested in dressing up!

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If you want to see a detailed overview of what is on at the festival I’ll leave a link here, but I’ll list a few of my favourite parts of the day here too. They have live music playing all weekend on a main stage and also a smaller acoustic tent where you can go for a more mellow atmosphere. There is a big area full of hula hoops, stilts and other things which I have no idea the names of where you can go and have a try and find out whether it’s time to run off and join the circus or to probably just stick to your day job. In this area there are always people showing off their skills too which is fun to watch. Kids can join in with the Fairy Queen’s tea party and have their photo taken with her afterwards. There are countless workshops going on throughout the weekend too, Darcie is still too young for most of these by I expect that by next year she might want to take part in Wand making or join in with some Eco Crafts. There are also plenty of food trucks to choose from, many of which are vegan and vegetarian options.

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Looking around the market stalls is always my favourite part of any event, and the ones at the Fairy Festival didn’t disappoint. I came away with lots of ideas of things I’d like to try making myself at home and saw many things which usually only exist on a Pinterest Board.

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I’d really recommend the Fairy Festival to anyone, it could be a fun day with your friends to get dressed up, go and sit by the bar and enjoy the music from the main stage, it’s a great family day out as there is so much for the kids to see and do, or for any die hard fairy fanatics, you were probably sold simply by the name of it anyway!

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  1. Emma

    Sounds like a lovely day out. What great photos..I wouldn’t be able to resist taking my daughter to a fairy festival either 😉 x

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