Why I chose a natural burial: Jill from Bedfordshire
In the first in our “Why I chose a natural burial” series, we hear from Jill from Bedfordshire, who explains what a deeply cathartic process this choice has been for her.
I didn’t like the idea of being buried. Those big dark gravestones, gloomily ranged one after another. Morbid, solemn, the very epitome of the finality of death. The thought of my children standing by the melancholy grave over the years, thinking of me mouldering down there in those sort of glossy coffins that you’re used to seeing out of the ground, in grand funeral cars with large floral tributes picking out your name.
No, give me a quick cremation, the family later collecting the ashes and scattering them to the four winds somewhere.
But then I saw the St Alban’s Woodland Burial Ground in Bedfordshire, a few miles away from my home town. Quiet, birds singing, trees rustling. Each separate glade or rill named after a bird. Wooden memorials here and there, and although I knew there were bodies buried under the ground, it wasn’t morbid like a graveyard. It was peaceful. I knew the bodies were simply being returned to the earth, being one with nature.
I wandered round just as if I were on a country walk. I sat, looked round at the wild flowers and the butterflies. And I didn’t want to go home, I wanted to stay. And so it struck me. I could. One day, I could stay there.
So I phoned the administrator, and she arranged to meet me at the natural burial ground, walk me round, talk to me about it. We met, and it didn’t take me long before I said I knew for sure that I wanted to be buried there. There was one glade called Lark, where there was a grave space close to where I’d sat when I first visited the place on my own. I wanted to be there, and to know that my beloved family would hear the piece The Lark Ascending while they laid me to rest, in the Lark glade.
The nitty gritty is that I paid half the cost of the space straight away, my family having to pay the remaining half when the time came. And do you know what, I wished I could be with them as I was laid in the ground. I felt almost envious that I wouldn’t be in that peaceful place, hearing that music, seeing the tears pouring down their cheeks.
I suppose I will be there with them, in spirit. If that’s what you want to believe.
Once I knew that that was going to my final resting place, I went back and lay down on that space. I felt immensely peaceful, lying there, listening to the birds, the rustling of the branches, and nothing else except for my heart beating. One day I’ll lie there and my heart will not be beating.
And all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Our thanks to Jill from Bedfordshire for sharing this moving story with us. If you or someone you know has chosen natural burial, we would love to hear about your experience and the reasons behind this choice. Get in touch if you would like to share your story.
