Catching up on 2021 with Dorset Downs Natural Burial Ground

2021 was a really busy and exciting year for Dorset Downs Natural Burial Ground.

Watching the wildflowers grow

The grass seed and wildflowers that were planted in 2020 (as part of the project to restore locally distinctive landscape) grew and flourished. Over 2021 these established into a beautiful wildflower pasture. We had cow parsley, poppies and clover as well as a number of other wildflowers. You can see the change for yourself in the photos below. It’s amazing just what a difference a year has made.

While nature was busy working on the wildflowers Jeremy, Tessa and their team were busy working on the car park and memorial shelter. These look fantastic and were finished just in time for our first natural burial request. It was lovely to see that the beautifully restored rustic bier came in useful for our first green funeral at Dorset Downs.

With the groundworks complete and the natural burial ground up and running we could finally start sharing that we were able to offer natural burial. It was wonderful to be able to welcome people and offer prepurchase to those planning ahead. Around this time we were also given the news that we could include pets ashes. We can include these as part of a natural burial or ashes interment and it’s great that all these options are available as we all have our own wishes. We hope offering these choices can help to make the day a bit easier, especially if it means families can say goodbye their way.

Our new website

Another exciting development in 2021 was the new website. If you haven’t already seen it we would definitely recommend you have a look. It’s also got some really helpful advice for those planning a natural burial or a green funeral. It also has advice for those planning ahead and ideas for green funerals. You can also find out a bit about the natural burial ground’s story. This includes why it was ploughed in the last drive for food and how it is helping with the restoration of native habitats.

What’s in store for 2022

As we head into our first spring of offering green funerals we can’t wait to see what wildflowers we find. Our ‘natural lawnmowers’ have been doing a great job of mowing the pasture over the winter. Hopefully, we will start to see news about the arrival of their lambs. If you want to keep up to date with our news what is going on throughout the year you can follow us on Facebook or Instagram.