	BROCKLANDS
	Woodland Burial

Who are we?

We are Chris and Julia Weston of Cappleside House in the village of Rathmell. The Cappleside Estate has been in Chris' family for 7 generations since his ancestors 'migrated'from the next-door village of Wigglesworth in about 1790. The garden and parkland boast fine examples of native and exotic trees, which have been planted by successive generations.

The farm has full organic status with the Soil Association,and produces organic beef from its herd of pedigree Hereford cattle. The beef herd replaced our dairy cows after they were slaughtered during the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak, which badly hit this valley. The 70 acres of woodland are managed using sustainable forestry practices, and provide timber such as fencing, firewood and oak beams, for our own use and for local sales (all the timber in the Haybarn was provided by Estate woods). The woodlands are also maintained to keep their visual amenity in the landscape (i.e., they are not clear-felled) and serve as an environmental resource.

To further this end, some Cappleside land has for the past 10 years been dedicated to the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, which seeks to improve the landscape character, wildlife value and historic aspect of the area. This includes the maintenance of dry stone walls; the restoration of old hedges and planting of new ones; the management of traditional hay meadows for wild flowers and ground-nesting birds, and so on.

The creation of a Woodland Burial Site on our land is therefore very much in keeping with our philosophy of land usage and management, and is an important part of the estate as a whole. In 2002 Brocklands was set up as a Trust, to ensure that the land remains as a burial site in the future.

Brocklands Woodland Burial has been a member of the The Association of Natural Burial Grounds since we opened in 2000 - this is an organisation set up by The Natural Death Centre, a charity based in London which seeks 'to improve the quality of dying' and offers advice and guidelines for green burial grounds around the country.