The Country Celebrant and The Country Carer

We are lucky in Hampshire.  We have access to several natural burial grounds.  The one that I use most frequently is at East Meon.  It is set on the chalk downlands above the market town of Petersfield and there are views away towards Chichester and to the sea at Portsmouth on a clear day. To conduct a burial here is an unhurried and peaceful affair.  There is a covered space with an open fireplace and a degree of shelter for use to honour the dead.  The staff are professional yet discreet and unlike at the Crematoria there is no sense of a production line and the need to speed through the farewell. Once the goodbyes have been said and the memories shared the bereaved are able to make their way slowly through the woodland to the burial plot.  The deceased is transported on a hand cart and they are laid to rest in a hand dug grave. Families are encouraged to walk their dogs and visit their loved ones privately - there are no grave stones and so in a r...

The Country Celebrant: The Country Celebrant:   Christmas Weddings: I was asked today whether I had ever conducted a wedding at Christmas.  It got me thinking .... I never have and I wondered why that might be. What influences the choice of date?  Is it that we are most likely to have decent weather in the summer, or is that the choice of flowers and the comfort of a beautiful dress without the worry of being cold is uppermost in our minds? Christmas is a time for family and couples often get engaged at Christmas, but actually if your family are all around you anyway - why not get married then. I feel I posing more questions than I am answering; historically the short days of winter are a quiet time and what better way to spend a quiet time than celebrating your love for one another?  A wedding dress in sumptuous velvet, red and gold and green decorations, such a panoply of light and delicious scents everywhere.  The weather is expected to be dreary ...

The Country Wedding ~ Cindy Groves If you could have your wedding day as perfect as you can,  would you have roses and peonies or flowers from the hedgerows? I would be married to my love in a woodland glade,  with the dog to bear the rings and a knees up in the garden. If you could plan you day with no expenses spared would you have champagne and canapes or dandelion wine? I would be married to my love on a beach by the sea with sand between my toes and shells to mark the way. If you could be married in ceremony, with all the bells and whistles would you have high society in silk or your friends in cotton dresses? I would be married to my love every day for ever, I would cleave to him and laugh with him and make music together.

Cindy Groves | Family

I like to think that the seeds that we sow will grow and flower and in due course set seed themselves. It was thus last weekend; a young man, the son of one of my oldest and dearest friends, asked me to conduct the Naming Ceremony for his daughter. The family now live in New Zealand and so we seldom see them in England.  It was magical to be in an English country garden on a sunny afternoon in June with four generations of the same family enjoying a glass or two and a slice of delicious homemade cake while the newest member of the family, chewing meditatively on a dibber, was named. We added thumb prints to a fantasy tree to mark the occasion and a wonderful time was had by all.

www.thecountrycelebrant.co.uk Symbolism White Clover - thinking of you I recently attended my first Death Cafe; not a particularly inviting name, but a meeting of minds and a wonderfully uplifting experience. We talked about why we were there, what experience we had of death and what we wanted from the evening ... cake was high on the list!  More than anything it was the chance to talk about our experiences and our worries about death and bereavement. Death is the certainty; but what about the taboos and the awkwardness of dealing with death?  An elderly gentleman spoke movingly about his experiences of death in the old days.  He came from a close knit community where the dead were part of the fabric of everyday life. The deceased would be laid out in the front parlour and when there was a meal to be had at the table, moved underneath it.  The ladies of the community would come to your house and help you to prepare the body for burial. There was ...

The Country Celebrant: Memorials : I wrote this poem in memory of a dear friend and colleague who lost her battle with cancer a year ago.  I find writing hugely therapeutic and I hope that this poem might strike a cord with you. The Bench ~ by Cindy Groves  Today I'll sit and think of you Tomorrow I may do so too Today I'll hear your laugh again Tomorrow it will be the same If every day could be the last and all the times we had were past Then I would be so happy, free to know that you were close to me Around the corner, down the lane across the meadow, here again The bench would be our meeting spot to laugh and cry and share a lot A place to sit and share a smile to talk and listen, quiet a while A place to cry that you are gone but knowing you has made me strong I will remember and I'll sing about the times we did that thing The silly, mad and happy times the made up games and stupid rhymes The flowers, the paint, th...