Frequently Asked Questions
Please contact us if your questions are not answered here as we are very happy to explain how things work
Natural burial is the giving of a body to the living soil in a way that it can feed life. No embalming fluids, formaldehyde or sarcophagi are permitted (except in exceptional circumstances) that would block the body from composting back into the living Earth.
The ecological imperatives of these times lead natural burial grounds to lean towards minimising use of fossil fuels and generating greater biodiversity through working to create and maintain diverse meadows and/or woodland.
Excitingly, rather than being partitioned off from the rest of life, natural burial grounds can meet other human needs. They are not just areas of beauty and quiet, but also where the integration of grazing, and mindful woodland management can develop.
Other than for a few people directly connected to the site through voluntary or other work it over the years, Epona Natural Burial is for local people.
The specific criteria arrived at by the national park in their conditions for our planning permission, are that Epona Natural Burial is permitted to meet a local need and plots shall only be available for those who have a local connection to Chagford or any adjoining rural parish* by virtue of birth, residence or occupation or, by reason of undertaking regular volunteer work for Epona/Regenco.
*In our view, at least until they have their own natural burial ground.
Please contact us in the first instance by sending an email to landtime1@gmail.com to discuss your requirements.
Alternatively you can ask your chosen Funeral Director to contact us.
For many people one of the joys of Chagford is seeing the Ponies grazing in the churchyard, and areas left to flower and seed for the diversity of insects this supports, which in turn supports the Swifts who have returned to the spire. Others would prefer ponies not to be in the grave yard and a greater majority of the grass to be kept trim at all times.
Epona as we have already shared will be a long way from a manicured cemetery, as an agricultural holding it will have not just grazing ponies, but also at times cattle and sheep. Stocking numbers will be kept low and seasonal, so along side some areas kept open by the grazing and occasional topping, there will also be natural regeneration, natural processes that lead to areas of woodland with huge diversity along the way.
This is an experiment moving us towards a dynamic mosaic of groves and glades, succession and pasture, but it wont be for everyone, not everyone will want to be buried here, and that is ok, just as in the church yard, there will be some who feel joy and excitement at what is evolving here, and others for whom an integrated site like this isn’t what they are looking for, so for them it is better to be elsewhere.
It feels important to us that Epona Natural Burial is here as an option for those who do want it, and we will do our best to ensure, that what is here is in service of life.
Something of the experimentation at Epona is going well for wildlife. This last summer in just one week 6 different species of birds of prey were witnessed, including Goshawk and Kestrel. (This drawing is of a locally injured beautiful Kestrel that was taken in and cared for by Tony Bennett of New Street, Chagford).
“Our question is no longer how to exploit the natural world for human comfort and gain, but how we can cooperate with one another to ensure we will someday have a fitting, not a dominating, place in it.” ― Barry Lopez
* https://geographical.co.uk/wildlife/one-in-six-species-at-risk-of-extinction-in-uk
Epona Natural Burial is situated at the top of the hill following the lane directly next to Chagford’s St Michael’s church and main car park. By encouraging this to be a walk to burial site extra traffic on the lane will be minimised, both at the time of the burial and for future visits.
There has been a long tradition of carrying the dead on Dartmoor, in particular the famous Lych Way – the route from Dartmoor Forest parish for carrying the dead across the moor all the way to Lydford church.
One of the earliest written records of people living on the moor is a petition from the people of Pizwell and Babeny to the Bishop of Exeter asking if they could be given permission to carry their dead to Widecombe parish rather than Lydford, a much shorter distance. So people were mindful of energy expenditure even then.
Though encouraging walking and the carrying of the body, it is good to know there is a trolley that can be drawn on to help with this if needs be, and if necessary a hearse, though we encourage attendees to walk for the funeral and any future visits.
As it is a steep hill, we also have an arrangement with a local farmer who drives the school minibus and is willing to transport mourners, outside of school drop off and pick up times for a small fee.
This is important to us and we recognise that at many funerals there are some visitors for whom mobility as an issue. So complimentary to the minibus service we are also making provision and in our planning application are putting in for a small amount of easier access parking which would allow closer smoother access to the land from which in turn one could be taken to closer to the burial area.
The site itself is relatively wild and though there is a footpath running close by, within the burial area itself there are no permanently defined paths. Wheelchair users will need assistance and less mobile people may need help too. As in many church yards not everyone would necessarily be able to get right up to every graveside.
Epona Natural Burial is situated at the top of the hill following the lane directly next to Chagford’s St Michael’s church and main car park.
As well as the lane, there are also footpaths from the village close to the site from the West (path direct up Nattadon Hill from Nattadon Road), from the North (path from Westcott lane) as well as paths up from the East from Great Weeke and Yellam. We are intending to open up a permissive path from Weeke Down, that will both join up with the path from Westcott Lane and give easier access in to the burial area.
People can be buried in coffins, caskets or shrouds so long as the materials (other than handles and hinges) are biodegradable. We strongly encourage the use of local material and artisan makers as much as possible.
For example Yuli Somme at Bellacouche, Chagford (bellacouche.com) makes beautiful woollen shrouds, so supporting the woollen industry. These rest on a light local round wood frame, so also supporting local coppicing.
There are also South West based willow casket makers we can point you to. Willow is also grown on the land at Epona – available if someone more local would like to learn and also offer this service.
Solid wooden coffins are more difficult to source locally, if looking to source one please ensure that unless local artisan, that it is Fsc (a stamp that indicates at least some consciousness of sustainability in its harvest) and beware that imports may not be ethically sourced. You have to be careful also as these are often lined with polyester which will not degrade.
Cardboard coffins are another option that can be sourced on line.
Please note: Chipboard, ply and veneered coffins are not suitable due to the glues and chemicals use in their construction. A coffin is not obligatory as natural-fibre cloth or felted wool shrouds can also be used. Bodies should be clothed in natural fibres. Please discuss with us if this causes any difficulty.
Once the permissive path from Week Down ids opened, you will always be able to walk through and visit loved ones.
Please note the site itself is not open after dusk.
The majority of plots are sold at time of someone passing.
There will be a limited number of pre purchase plots sold, with first priority to those founding friends who have supported us up until this point (if you want more detail on how to become a founding friend email us: landtime1@gmail.com )
After that we are open to sell some to the over 70’s.
There are two other doors in:
1, for spouses who would like to reserve a plot next to their beloveds,
and 2, sadly of course sometimes younger folks have a difficult prognosis, and it can be reassuring for them, even if they don’t know exactly how long they have, to put their affairs in order, so a pre plot for those in this circumstance can also be a possibility. Though we sincerely hope this isn’t a circumstance for you, we do hope you will be amused by Spike Milligan’s rye cartoon below reflecting on the theme:
What would happen if you are in the above categories but moved away or for some other reason changed your mind?
If you change your mind within 28 days we will refund your plot fee in full on return of your documents. You may cancel a pre-purchased plot if circumstances mean you are moving beyond the area stipulated for the site. In this case we will try and re-sell the plot for you. We charge an administration fee of 10% for this process.
Yes, but only if you ensure to remove any artificial materials like oasis, wire clips, plastic tape, nylon ribbon etc to avoid them being eaten by and harming stock or other the local wildlife, or breaking up in the sunlight, but not breaking down.
Only 100 percent native wildflowers can be planted or sown on the grave, and ideally of local provenance. We cannot guarantee their survival for as well as competition from existing flora, the grass is managed by grazing and some through hay-making, so working around plants flowering at all times through the Spring and Summer is not possible.
Nature is wonderful and will naturally re-colonise the site given time, so if you can be patient and allow natural regeneration it will provide the most suitable plants for this location. Also it is worth noting that grazing ruminants play a significant part on spreading many wild flowers, whose seeds benefit from travelling through their gut and then arriving on the land in a ready made fertile bed.
We are sorry but non native plants will be removed as they can weaken and overtake native stock, which are in their own time reoccupying what was species poor modified grass land.
The most common errors and so plants that are removed from other natural burial sites we are told, tend to be the planting of Spanish where what is needed are English Bluebell, Primula versus native Primrose, and daffodils/narcissi rather than the beautiful Wild Daffodils native to Devon, so please pay particular attention in this regard. (We can point you to at least one stockist and are open to hear of and are researching more).
Graves will only be dug to single depth, though if a spouse or close family member dies, then potentially a plot can be reserved by its side.
We do not have toilet facilities available on site. The nearest public toilets are some great facilities located in Chagford village square. If there are plans to be there for the greater part of a day, and this feels a concern, potentially water and temporary provision can be arranged.
The site is mapped into plots within ten metre square grids. Any variation within and beyond that is recorded by taking the distances from three fixed ‘trig’ points. These measurements are then kept in our burial plot records to allow us to accurately pinpoint the head and foot of each grave.
These will be kept on record and can be provided for when you visit. What3 words app, is a useful app which offers three words for every 3 metre square, much easier to remember than trig points, and taking you v close to the actual location of the grave.
what3words is a really simple way to talk about location. They have divided the world into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and assigned each one a unique 3-word address.
It means anyone can accurately find any location and share it more quickly, easily and with less ambiguity than any other system. The service can be used via the free mobile app (available here on the App Store, and on Google Play) or online map.
If you contact us in advance of your visit we are happy to mark a specific grave if it has become less obvious.
For safety and insurance reasons graves may only be prepared by those approved by Epona Natural Burials (there can be significant chunks of granite within the earth so skill and caution is needed).
Graves are prepared either by hand digging or with a small digger to preserve tranquillity and reduce the impact on flora.
If desired the family can undertake the backfilling of graves with supervision, though this does need to happen before too late on in the day.
The healthiest trees are those that arise through natural regeneration, which due to the low grazing animal numbers at Epona is already occurring.
Although there is a possibility of trees being planted on a very few plots, experience at other sites has shown, that if you do offer a tree over every grave, you end up with close rows of trees looking more like a plantation, and inevitably they shade each other out.
At Epona the area is moving towards sylvopasture with a rich a mix of meadow, glades and groves, so generally you should not expect a specific tree over a specific grave, rather the beautifully arising mosaic of glade and grove will become a memorial to all those within it.
Though historically some conifer and non native trees have been planted nearby, moving forward we strongly encourage any trees that are planted to be native and ideally pioneer species such as hawthorn, hazel and birch. (Though one could plant some oak, we have found the squirrels have a particular penchant for it, so just when you think it has got away they often come in and ring bark it, though this does leave some beautiful standing dead wood on which many beings will feast!)
As a working holding, grazing will continue among them, and trees that do arise or are planted may through natural selection fade or thrive, and in time some will be coppiced or pollarded.
Pollarding opens up light to the ground and understorey, and also, if you read Oliver Rackham’s history of English woodlands actually prolongs the life of the trees and certainly the woodland. This is in part because it mimics the actions of visits by some of the larger natural grazers and beings these trees evolved alongside (eg short tusked elephant, herds of auroch, people and ponies).
Some dead wood is deliberately left standing or lying on site as a rich habitat for funghi and invertebrates and those that feed on them.
This is not possible unless you have reserved a family or couples plot next to another family member already buried.
In line with many other natural burial sites, modest stone or wood memorials are permitted (40 x 30 x 3-10cm thick), though only if it is understood that they will be laid completely flat to soil ground level or slightly below, in order to not impact scything and other cutting blades. Memorials over this size or above ground level will not be accepted.
Stone or wood can be purchased in liaison with us to help adhered to this.
We ask that only British stone or wood are used (the footprint of imported stone is a massive shadow of the funeral industry,) and can point you to local stone masons or wood workers if you want some writing on them (in time these will be listed on local suppliers page).
From our ecological survey we’ve learned that these small stones/wood do and will offer fantastic habitat for reptiles and other beings. We have already witnessed how stones and wood on the ground become refuge for many small creatures particularly in times of drought. It is good to recognise that over a period of time, as in Victorian cemeteries, memorials will be overgrown by vegetation and be reclaimed by the land.
Grave locations can always be found via the original trig point record and also be accessed via what3words.
Graves are dug to the depth of a minimum of 122cm (4 feet), or more if necessary, so that the top of the coffin or body is at a very minuimum 76cm (2’6″ feet) below the surface, in accordance with statutory requirements.
It has been long understood that a shallower grave aids the natural healthy decomposition of the body as the upper level of earth contains more oxygen and life.
Once a loved one is there you are welcome to visit the burial ground at anytime during daylight hours – this includes friends and family.
To learn more and see if it maybe right for you or a local loved one, get in touch via: landtime1@gmail.comand one of our evolving team will be happy to meet with you. If you dont know the site it can be best to arrange a guide for a visit, as unlike a conventional grave yard burial, being into wider unfenced semi wild and agricultural land, it can be harder to see where burials begin and end, which is also one of the beauties of it, for it is about integration into an overall place.
It is a place of peace and there can be stock grazing, so very noisy activities and unleashed dogs are not appropriate. Please leave it as you find it and close the gates when you leave. Thank you.
In the short-term the site is being managed as woodland and pasture for ease of working and access. In the longer term it will evolve into a mosaic of Groves and Glades using sustainable and ecological principles.
A percentage of each plot sold will be set aside to contribute towards maintenance costs once the burial ground is full.
The land will remain in the ownership of Regenco (the local not for profit that bought Epona with the aid of a loan and some donation for the purpose of regeneration back in the year 2000). In the unlikely event the land needed to be sold, easements would be put in place ensuring access to the burial area remained for friends and family to visit loved ones.
All grave locations are accurately surveyed and recorded by Epona Natural Burials, and as shared previously small wooden or stone markers so long as flat to the ground can be used. We will offer you both a grid reference and a ‘what 3 words’ reference for your plot.
If you wish to more accurately locate a plot for a particular occasion, please let us know and we can arrange an appointment to discuss. Possibilities are that one of us could meet you on site to guide you, or potentially we can mark a particular grave out prior to an arranged visit.
Yes, so long as the need is registered with us and ideally an advance plot booked, we will be able to reserve a second plot for the partner next to the grave of the one that predeceased them. We do not carry out double burials on the same plot but side by side.
Any comments you may have about the site or the service received can be fed back via email to contact@eponanaturalburial.co.uk and there is a feedback sheet included in the follow-up pack after a burial has taken place.
Though only a small locally oriented site, we are looking to join the Association of Natural Burial Grounds (ANBG) who then may also be contacted directly with any comments – www.anbg.co.uk
Their web is a goldmine of information in relation to holding your own funeral and other relevant topics.
In the first instance you should contact Epona Natural Burials Ltd, and your complaint will be dealt with as soon as possible.
Though only a small locally oriented burial ground, we will be joining the Association of Natural Burial Grounds and though we encourage you to speak direct with us first, when we have, alternatively, complaints will be able to be referred directly to the Association of Natural Burial Grounds – www.anbg.co.uk