The People's Awards

It has been many years since the Natural Death Centre held the People's Awards for the Best Natural Burial Ground in the UK - but this year they are back, and the 2013 regional winners can now be revealed.

We are delighted to list the eight natural burial grounds below as the winners in their part of the country. Winners were selected using scoring and comments from over 1,000 families who carried out a natural burial during the last three years at one of the member sites belonging to The Association of Natural Burial Grounds.

Regional Winners 2013

South East England   

South Downs Natural Burial Site

South West England

Higher Ground Meadow 

East Midlands

The Willows Natural Burial Ground

West Midlands

Westhope Green Burial Ground

Yorkshire

Brocklands Woodland Burial 

Northern England

Dalton Woodland Burial Ground

Wales

Green Lane Burial Field & Nature Reserve

Scotland

Clovery Woods of Rest

Select any of the winning sites to see some of the comments made by families who chose them as the final resting place for someone they loved.

Three independent judges will select the overall UK winner, to be announced in June.

Background to The People's Awards

These awards are different to any other kind of assessment of green cemeteries, they are not about how sustainable each site is, the facilities that are available or the way the land is managed; the People's Awards are all about the people involved, the level of service they provide, the personal touches and the impact that each natural burial ground manager has made on the famiies of those who they have helped to bury.

The Code of Conduct of the Association of Natural Burial Grounds requires members to provide families arranging funerals with them an opportunity to complete a NDC Feedback Form which is returned directly to the Natural Death Centre headquarters. We receive dozens of these forms every week, the vast majority praising the burial grounds and the people involved. Any concerns or complaints are instantly responded to and reported back to the ANBG member concerned.

Earlier this year, over 1,000 forms received over the last three years were scrutinised by the trustees and staff of the NDC. The results were logged and analysed, and after many hours of work, a winner and a close runner up in each of the eight qualifying regions across the UK were identified. 

Regional Runners Up 2013

South East England

Deerton Natural Burial Ground