Catching up on 2021 with Bath Natural Burial Meadow

What’s been going on in 2021

We started the year with our natural lawnmowers grazing the grass and some beautiful sunsets and sunrises. With restrictions in place and knowing some people could not visit we shared these as much as possible on our social media.

It was a great year for our majestic oak which offered a natural space for gatherings. Initially, we could not allow marquees due to restrictions, but for those wanting shelter, the far-reaching branches of the oak provided this for funerals and smaller gatherings. We have really enjoyed watching it this year as its leaves grew and the colours changed throughout the seasons. It’s always a spectacular display but for some reason this year it seemed to be more prominent. Maybe because it gave our funerals their own unique setting. It also provided some much-appreciated shelter for our sheep in the wind and rain.

We had some wonderful ideas at funerals to combat restrictions. These included a takeaway pizza picnic and an ice cream van as families could not have a wake. People brought personal tributes and some family and friends are going to return for a picnic in the summer to celebrate with those that could not attend.

We hope families feel that they can continue embracing ideas like this and doing things their own way as we head into a slightly different future where people can still do things differently if they wish.

Our Green Projects

We admired the apples blossom in our orchard restoration for those that could not visit this spring. We were very glad that we could start to welcome visitors back when the apples were growing so that all could enjoy watching them. The memorial trees and heritage apples are really starting to make their mark now. The orchard is becoming a key ecosystem that is helping our native wildlife. We are seeing an important lost habitat re-establish while honouring and remembering those they were planted for.

We also made the exciting decision to develop this theme by creating a productive forest garden on the opposite slope to the south of the car park. This will give families the opportunity to plant trees, shrubs and low-level plants. These will produce edible fruit, nuts legumes and herbs. You can read more about this at our green projects.

The year at Bath Natural Burial Meadow ended as it had started with the sheep cutting the grass, and us watching them as they worked while the winter sun set in the distance.