Wildlife & Sustainability
Wildlife and sustainability
The Hawkins Family are deep green and proud of it – and we see Primrose Wood Natural Burial Ground as an extension of our environmentally-friendly farming and green farm tourism set-up. We were awarded the first Gold Award for Green Tourism in Suffolk over 20 years ago – recognition and encouragement for our constantly evolving (and challenging) environmental policy. We are hugely aware of our responsibilities to the environment and as custodians of the countryside - and we try to manage our lovely farm, its history and wildlife in as sympathetic and environmentally-friendly way as we can.
In 2025 we achieved Carbon Net Zero and we hope that the establishment of wildflower meadows and woodland in Primrose Wood will continue to sequester more carbon and contribute in some small way to the mitigation of the Climate Crisis.
Our aim with Primrose Wood is to create a native, broadleaved woodland habitat that blends into the local landscape and links two ancient woodland Sites of Special Scientific Interest - and boosts local biodiversity. The developing woodland and interspersed glades and rides will be managed as traditional woodland, for example with thinning, and later coppice-with-standards management with re-planting of gaps if required. Juliet Hawkins, an ecologist and conservationist advising farmers for 40 years, aims to record wildlife that colonises Primrose Wood over the years. We will keep a growing list of birds, plants, fungi, butterflies, moths, bees and other insects on our website and flag up key finds on the information board at Primrose Wood.
Environmental Policy
Our environmental policy for Primrose Wood includes these summarised aspects:
Primrose Wood T&Cs restrict all planting to native trees, shrubs and flowering plants.
We restrict the use of all non-biodegradable burial caskets or shrouds or those treated with chemicals.
We restrict the use of all non-biodegradable graveside offerings and memorial markers – and include hardwood memorial marker posts on every grave. We minimise all man-made infrastructure other than that required for practicality’s sake.
Site maintenance at Primrose Wood will be kept to the minimum to ensure that we maximise the biodiversity of the site (such as tree establishment, making hay, cutting rides) whilst making the site accessible to all its users (such as access paths, car park, gates).
We use mulch to suppress weed competition from growing trees.
We encourage the use of public transport and bicycles where possible.
We use our own or local produce and recycled/ethically/sustainably produced goods from further afield wherever possible when catering for guests holding end-of-life celebrations in the Tudor Barn.
