We returned to the Burial Ground for the first time since last March. The Church have finalised the management plan for the burial ground and it outlines the approach which will combine ecological sensitivity and access to the graves.
Today we were focusing on removing non-native shrubs to allow more light in, and to clear pathways to some of the graves. I will attach a couple of the management plan soon.
We started our work in one corner where there were quite a number of laurel shrubs to remove. We also cleared bramble to allow access to a plaque on the back wall, one of the most recent additions to the burial ground. We left patches of bramble and raspberry and piles of deadwood where they did not interfere with headstones; we will assess in the summer whether we got the balance right.
There was plenty of laurel to clear on a couple of levels of the burial ground but we also grubbed out bramble roots from along the pathways and cleared leaves and leaf mould from one set of steps.
It was a warm day which was pleasant, but it does seem wrong to be so warm in the middle of February. The birds were singing, and the snowdrops were lovely. The bluebell leaves on the slopes below the burial ground are already well established.