Award winning hand-carved headstones
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Hundreds of visitors to Life, Death (and the Rest)
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Bristol’s Arnos Vale is set to open a new Natural Burial Woodland, located within the grounds of the cemetery on Sunday, April 2nd, the first of its kind in the city.
During the course of the winter, landscape works were carried out by volunteers and local contractors, including the laying of a 150 metre path. This has opened up previously unmanaged woodland, creating burial space for up to 400 new plots nestled under the canopy of the trees.
The Arnos Vale Natural Burial Woodland will become part of the Association of National Burial Grounds (ANGB) adhering to the code of conduct to promote Natural Burial best practice, a growing social movement in end of life planning. Key to this is an ethos to make burial as environmentally friendly as possible, with no memorials placed in the woods to mark burials and all coffins or shrouds to be made of sustainable biodegradable materials such as bamboo, willow or natural woven materials.
Every year families with loved ones in the woodland will be invited to plant native bulbs under careful management, enhancing the landscape for all to enjoy. The woodland path expected to be popular with visitors and walkers coming to the historic Garden Cemetery.
The Natural Burial Woodland will be opened to the public as part of the Life, Death (and the Rest) events being held over the weekend at Arnos Vale including a schedule of speakers and stalls on Sunday 2nd April.
Arnos Vale Cemetery Chief Executive, Mike Coe said,
“The new Natural Burial Woodland at Arnos Vale Cemetery will be the first established woodland in the city to operate under the ANGB code of Natural Burial. This will provide an environmentally friendly alternative for end of life planning and we can see Natural Burial being in high demand, especially in Bristol, a city which is proud of its green credentials. This will also regenerate previously unmanaged woodland for visitors to wander”
Burials in the Natural Burial Woodland will start from £1695 with high pre-sale demand expected due to the eco-friendly appeal of the site.
