Gunton Woodland Burial Park, Lowestoft, Suffolk

About the Burial Park

The story of Gunton Woodland Burial Park started in 1963 when Georgiana Fosbery, a descendant of the Fowler family of Old Gunton Hall, made a generous gift of land to Gunton Saint Peter’s Church. The intention of the gift was to provide the Church with a regular annual income to fund its work in the local community.

The gift included a 30-acre arable field and a small parcel of adjacent woodland. Initially, the Church raised its annual income by renting out the field to a local farmer and left the mixed woodland open for the public to enjoy. This arrangement worked well until 2009 when the field was threatened by the imposition of a compulsory purchase order. Although this threat soon passed it raised awareness of the need to find a more reliable way of providing the income needed by the Church to fund its work in the community.

Eventually, an innovative decision was made which combined the need to secure reliable annual income with a shortage of burial spaces by leasing out the 30 acre field to an independent charity to undertake its phased development into an environmentally friendly woodland burial park. Gunton Woodland Burial Trust has been registered with the Charity Commissioners to carry out this task.

The Trust intends to develop the Park in three phases and has secured planning permission for the first phase of 8.8 acres. Work on phase one has been completed and three community tree plants have seen more than 6,600 native tree saplings planted and five woodland glades created to accommodate burials.

Gunton Woodland Burial Park is the first environmentally friendly natural burial park to be opened in the Waveney and Great Yarmouth Area. We are also one of the first in the country to be run by a non-profit making charity.

We offer natural burials to those who wish to be laid to rest closer to nature. By choosing Gunton Woodland Burial Park you are ensuring that your loved ones are laid to rest with respect and in a manner that protects the environment, conserves natural resources and contributes to the restoration and preservation of local wildlife.

As a non-profit making charity we are able to focus our attention on the quality of service we provide

We also support the community by maintaining the burial park as a public open space, we have planted 6,600 native British trees and have created woodland glades to attract new wildlife and increase the Park’s biodiversity. Financial surpluses that accrue after we have paid off our development loans will support local good causes.

The park is located in North Lowestoft, Suffolk, close to Gunton Saint Peter’s Church, You can find your way to the burial park by entering the Postcode NR32 4LF in your sat nav. 

 

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Registered Charity No. 1156621