Spring is here and with the arrival of lambs and wildflowers we are definitely feeling it and are on, 'spring watch'. We are celebrating the start of spring, also known as the spring equinox by sharing a blog on the wildlife and wildflowers you may find when visiting the natural burial grounds. 

Current events have made many of us think about what we want to happen when we die. Here at Leedam it has got us thinking about our own wishes and funeral arrangements, and how we can let those we love know what is important to us in a simple way.
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'For When I die...' is a list of prompts that we hope will enable people to write down what is important for others to know when they die. We wanted to produce something as an antidote to the commercial funeral plans that are pushed at us on TV and social media. The 'For when I die...' document is entirely free and completely yours to use to share your wishes with the people closest to you.

Producing it got me thinking too; so I wrote down what I feel is important for me when I die. When I discussed it with my daughter, Rhi, she suggested that I should share it as a blog to introduce the concept. So here it is... 

In 2020 Leedam (Native Woodland Ltd) and our natural burial grounds, had the honour of winning a Green Apple Award 'For Environmental Best Practice Sustainable Development Green Champion'. As March signals the start of spring and a time where everything is becoming green, we thought it would be the perfect time to share this news.

We were honoured to have won a Green Apple Environment Award for our environmental practices and sustainable development. You can read more about Leedam and our natural burial grounds in the essay we submitted.

​It's 'World Wildlife Day', and the theme this year is something we are very passionate about, 'Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet’.

We understand how important it is we find sustainable solutions because the human population has grown exponentially, more than our planet can sustain if we continue in the manner we are accustomed to. There are sustainable options that we can choose which are respectful, personal, environmentally friendly and wildlife-friendly. Often these are not traditional, but this is not a bad thing. It’s good to find new ways that are better for us and our planet, but we have to learn to embrace new ideas, one of which are environmentally friendly burial practices such as natural burial. ​

Rosie from 'Personal Poems' recently got in touch with us to discuss how poems can make a funeral really special. This is why she helps families to create personal poems, and she has shared with us this beautiful poem she has written about natural burial from some of our own stories. 

With all the talk of changing the way we do things and helping our planet recover and find balance, we thought it would be nice to share some of our sustainable burial practices. ​

This weekend has been the weekend of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. We have been keeping an eye out for the birds in our gardens and have seen a few cheeky Robins, a couple of Blackbirds, a Starling and one beautiful Buzzard. We also are very lucky that we can enjoy the birds at the natural burial grounds and we thought it might be nice to share with you some of the birds you may see if you visit and a few facts we have found out about them. 

One question that we get asked by our families is, 'can we bring the dog to the funeral? For those who want their furry family members at the funeral we feel that this should be allowed which is why all of our natural burial grounds are pet friendly, so our answer to this is, ‘Yes of course’.