The main feature of burial grounds owned by Adam & Greenwood Funeral Home LLP is that they are ‘green’, that is, eco-friendly. Our policy is to increase tree planting and reinforce hedges around the entire area and to provide private areas for visitors; the benefits of an increase in the songbird and butterfly population being a welcome side effect. All trees and hedging plants used will be native species, rather than ‘garden varieties’.
Hedging is a vital habitat for birds and must be managed to ensure it is thick and healthy. The hedges will be trimmed at the end of winter, before the spring nesting season, allowing the birds to enjoy the berries and roost in the branches during the winter months.
Necessary tree pruning will be carried out in the dormant season, late winter. Our policy is to remove the lower branches of the young trees so as to encourage them to mature more quickly. Good woodland management may necessitate the selective thinning of trees, in order that the maximum number grow to healthy maturity. This will produce a natural-looking, vigorous wood over the years.
It is not our policy to burn woody prunings as this releases carbons into the atmosphere. We retain logs in heaps called ‘habitat piles’ to encourage insects and the birds that feed on them. Smaller prunings are chipped or shredded and added to these habitat piles. We will compost as much plant material as possible. Following a funeral or service at HGW we try to allow floral tributes, wreaths and other items to remain as long as possible but please be aware this is normally around 3 to 7 days. We do not use peat products and discourage their use by others.