You will need to organise care of the body before burial, the coffin, the service, and music. We are happy to help and your funeral director (if you have one) will take care of as much of the organisation as you choose.
The coffin can arrive in any vehicle, it doesn’t need to be a hearse – we’ve had camper vans and even a sheep trailer! We provide a wicker cart to move the coffin through the wood.
You can have any sort of ceremony or none. All religions, and none, are catered for and ceremonies can be leisurely. Please let us know in advance if you need more than 2 hours, so we can arrange staff to fill in.
We will have the grave prepared and decorated, we supervise the burial, and we restore the plot afterwards. There is a simple shelter in the wood which is always available.
To be one with nature, please ensure that everything to be buried – including the coffin or shroud, and the clothes worn by the deceased – are biodegradable.
If you would like to fill in the grave after the burial, you are welcome to do so. Please let us know in advance so we can provide shovels!
You may bring cut flowers and wreaths – again, please ensure that any plastic wrappers are removed, and taken home. Flower arrangements must be fully biodegradable if they are to be left in the wood, cut flowers tied with biodegradable twine/string are fine. We kindly ask that if any arrangements arrive with plastic backing or oasis foam, please can they be taken home by the family or funeral director on the day.
After the burial
You might like to plant – or ask us to plant – native wildflowers on the grave and we have an organic wildflower nursery on the Rowan path, where you can purchase plants: see our wildflower policy. We will remove plants that appear to have been bought from garden centres and shops because of unwanted plant nibblers and chemicals. Bluebells can be sourced from within the wood, please don’t bring them in for the same reasons.
Most people have memorials of engraved slate and you can buy suitable stones from us: gallery of memorials.
Again, memorials of plastic or metal will be removed as these are not biodegradable. We remove anything non organic / biodegradable without notice.
And if you wish to continue looking after the woodland – see our Join In page.