Woodland Burial

In February 2000 our Dad wrote to us saying they “had become landowners” with information about two plots they had purchased in Hinton Park Woodland Burial Ground. Our Grandmother had just been buried there, with a copper beech tree, and the mixed woodland looked great. Dad was buried in 2006 and this week Mum joined him at the good age of 95. We chose an eco-friendly coffin made from banana leaves woven into rope-like material. We had limited numbers for the service, of course, but a good representation of local friends and family. We have prepared a story of Mum’s life which may be found here www.pannage.com/lorna-fermer

A poem was read with these lines
“My greentime is over,
my chance of giving almost gone,
When the time comes to go, no longer needed,
May I fall like a leaf.”

Postcript

I wrote the Facebook post above and it received many comments. I had styled it about the burial ground because, primarily, some FB friends would not have known Mum. Brother Steve kindly sent these photos from 2007. Note how the leaf litter has been established. The photo of Gran’s grave below shows the gravel path and the occasional bench in the woodland. The fence by Mum and Dad’s plot is the edge of the woodland and we have seen deer on the other side.

One of Mum’s Bradbeer’s coffee shop friends is buried in the woodland and her husband, Ted, said he had gone to visit her grave soon after the funeral. As he tell’s it, he saw rabbits bonking and realised life must go on.

Hinton Park Burial Ground is in Walkford between Christchurch, Dorset and New Milton, Hampshire – and just outside The New Forest. Started as an independent, it is now managed by Coop Funeral Care.

See Lorna’s Story >
Back to Family >
Back to Lorna and Peter Fermer >