Owner of Angus burial ground is ‘privileged’ to help families at traumatic time

“IT’S a huge honour and privilege to be there with families at that difficult a nd t rau matic t i me,” says A lma Kettles, of CairnBrae Natural Burial Ground.

“I have met so many wonderful, beautiful people doing this job.

“But it’s an enormous responsibility and it takes a lot of work.”

Alma, who has been running the site single-handedly since its opening in July 2018, took a “leap of faith” and gave up her executive recruitment position in Edinburgh to create the wildlife haven which sits in the Angus countryside.

Her family has farmed the land in the area, near Kellas Wood, for four generations, so it seemed reasonable to take a section of one of its many fields and start the transformation.

“I don’t think they believed me when I first went to them and told them that I wanted to give up my career and do this.

“They thought I was a bit crazy,” Alma said.

“But then they realised the amount of research and time I had put into it before I mentioned it to them.

“This combines everything that I love though: looking after people, taking care of wildlife, being outside and gardening.

“I just wanted to do something more substantial.

“A lot of people have the perception that any piece of land can be used for a natural burial site.

“But it takes a good couple of years to get it to the point where you’re opening the gates and you have to want to be involved in the whole process from start to finish.”

A true natural burial ground will aim to support and sustain the cycle of life.

The environmentally friendly alternative to traditional burials and cremation will not allow embalmed bodies to be buried.

Alma considers this method of burial “a return to old ways before we got caught up in this expensive, elaborate way of doing things”.

As the site director, Alma’s working day can be varied and long but getting to meet families and helping bring some peace to them after their bereavement makes it all worth it.

She said: “I like to meet with the family and get to know them so I can support them in any way that I can in order for them to know they’re not just a number.

“We had a burial here a few

Owner Alma with her dog Twiggy in the natural burial ground.