the story of PRIMROSE wood

The Hawkins Family have farmed and loved every inch of Milden Hall Farm for over 200 years.  And we have very green credentials: between them, Christopher and Juliet have nearly 40 years’ experience and interest in wildlife conservation, local history and archaeology; and daughters Ruby Tiger and Daisy have worked for environmental and wildlife charities at home and in Africa. We have a green farm tourism business that includes self-catering and hosting environmental courses on fungi, ponds and woodland; and the business achieved Carbon Net Zero in 2025.

The burial of a friend at a natural burial site was so moving and so aligned to our whole environmental ethos at Milden, that we felt inspired to develop our own Primrose Wood Natural Burial Ground here on the farm, opened in 2026. We hope that the story of our journey, and photos of progress on each aspect, from the spark of an idea to Primrose Wood opening, will demonstrate the passion and understanding our family have for the environment, wildlife and historic landscape and the joy in sharing it.

In 2024, we set about researching the increasing demand for environmentally conscious green burials and carrying out wildlife, soil and water surveys. We chose an accessible, rural, arable site for Primrose Wood that will become a woodland stepping stone for wildlife between two ancient woodlands, part of Milden Thicks Site of Special Scientific Interest. With the wisdom and generous support of The Natural Death Centre, and fellow members of the Association of Natural Burial Grounds, we applied for planning permission and waited ….

Wildflower establishment

In anticipation of a successful planning application outcome, collected wildflower seed for two summers from our ancient meadow, with pepper saxifrage, devil’s bit scabious, sulphur clover and other delights. We used this seed to sew into wheat stubbles of what was then called Brands Field in autumn 2025 to create the meadow element of the site and then hoped the yellowhammers and linnets wouldn’t eat all the seed. And hoped for rain. It absolutely poured … for much of the winter! When dry enough, we planted 1,000 woodland wildflowers amongst the young planted trees. By spring 2026, wildflower seedlings were evident …. and after a droughty, hot March-August, everything looked parched except for wild carrot that appeared to be thriving!