Fairy Dale is north of Burdale House Farm. It consists of a steep-sided, crescent-shaped valley, which is in the Grasslands Inventory (Burdale NY/SE86/B03). A disused railway runs through its lower half and a road along its western boundary. A disused quarry occuping the eastern half of the southern tip of the crescent is not mapped as open. In making their submissions the RA grouped Fairy Dale along with several other nearby sites under the heading Burdale. Fairy Dale and Burdale Quarry were surveyed in late July 1999 as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. The survey found that the quarry contains species-rich grassland with salad burnet, wild thyme, carline thistle, tor-grass, quaking-grass and sheep's fescue. A total of 82 herbs, of which 14 were grasses and 13 were calcicolous indicator species, were recorded (see Species List), including all the species recorded in 1982.
Resources available for this area are as follows: