WOODLAND RESTING PLACE

A growing number of people are trying to live environmentally conscious lives – but now there is also a trend to ensure an environmentally friendly death.

With crematoria using as much energy to dispose of one body as a person would use in a month the appeal of burial and being laid to rest in a woodland setting is growing.

Bristol Memorial Woodlands at Earthcott Green, near Thornbury, Bristol, is a 100-acre burial ground which will become a nature reserve that can be enjoyed by future generations, all held in a charitable trust - the Bristol Memorial Woodland Trust (Charity no:1082094.)

Christopher Baker, founder of Bristol Memorial Woodlands, said: “Burial is an ancient and traditional way to lay someone to rest and the growing concerns about the environment mean it is also the most modern.

“In the past people were buried in the churchyard in their local community. In the 20th Century with headstones to maintain and few other ways that that land could be used, the upkeep of churchyards and burial grounds became a problem.

“Cremation has been promoted as a way of minimising land use and as being cheaper than burial. We have totally turned that on its head and now burial is not only environmentally better – because it does not burn gas and puts nutrients back into the ground – it is also cheaper.”

Bristol Memorial Woodlands set up the charitable trust that will maintain the land in the future and is creating a woodland that can be used by all for walking, recreation and enjoying nature.

Native British species are being planted and families can enjoy time in the countryside amongst the trees and feel close to their loved ones, resting in peace, under nature’s green canopy.

Planting a commemorative tree is an ancient gesture steeped in tradition and meaning. It is a symbol of continued life, strength and family connections. It gives relatives and friends a memorial to visit which they can enjoy watching as it changes over the years and seasons. Equally, it is a gift to the woodlands as they continue to grow and mature.