Burnham Beeches is a National Nature Reserve and Special Area of Conservation, extending to 540 acres of woodland, heath and wetland. It is situated west of Farnham Common in the village of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, near Slough. It is owned by the Corporation of London and is open to the public.
The main car park, Beeches Cafe, toilets and information centre, are off Lord Mayors Drive. As well as tarmac roads suitable for wheelchairs, there are informal paths. The trees are largely beech and present a lovely spectacle in the autumn. The site has been used since at least the Iron Age, when livestock grazed beneath the pollarded trees, many of which are several hundred years old. Livestock grazing has been reintroduced as part of the woodland management. Pollarding involves the regular cutting of tree branches above head height, which allows new ones to grow and makes the trees live longer. The Domesday Book, after 1066, records that Burnham had “woodland enough to feed 600 swine.” The City of London purchased the area and preserved it as a public open space in 1879.
Burnham Beeches is relatively close to Pinewood and Shepperton Studios and has, therefore, been used as a location many times for feature films and television productions. The popular Carry On films, including Carry on Camping, released in 1969 and Carry on Behind, released in 1975, both featured Burnham Beeches. The woods have been used in Harry Potter films – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, released in 2010 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, released in 2007. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the James Bond film, Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery, were also filmed here.
