About Us

Bargoed Natural Burials was set up in 2020 by Keith Hall and his mother Sally Hall. The burial site is situated at Allt-y-Garreg nature reserve and is part of the family farm. The farm itself is 180 acres of land which has been managed mainly for wildlife for over thirty years. The creation of a natural burial site in the nature reserve was considered to be an appropriate way of helping to safeguard the land as a wildlife habitat in the future, as well as following on with our ethos of helping to protect nature and the environment.

The natural burial site is on two of four fields that were planted with over eighteen thousand indigenous trees in 2012. The trees surround multiple wildflower meadows and are planted to mimic the natural diversity of the ancient woodlands of the UK.

For well over fifty years Sally Hall has been a keen environmentalist and passionate about wildlife. She regularly monitors flora and fauna on the farm, reporting results to the BTO, Garden Moth Scheme, Butterfly Conservation, RSPB and WWBIC.  She co-founded the Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB) in 1989. Keith was brought up to respect and protect the environment and our precious flora and fauna. 

Our current team (pictured) consists of Sally and Keith, Mick our gravedigger and Bryn our woodland manager. James, Jack and Amy (not pictured) also work on the general upkeep and management of the site.

Natural Burial Grounds’  People’s Award

We were delighted to have been chosen as the overall UK winner of The People’s Award for 2023. We were also named as the regional winner for Wales in 2023 and 2026 (we were runner up in 2021 and 2025). The award is based solely on feedback from families who have laid loved ones to rest. The judges said that our site had the highest percentage of outstanding, detailed feedback forms.

Families had taken time to write in depth accounts of their experiences and the service they had received. All staff, including our gravedigger, were mentioned as being supportive and helpful.  We are members of the Association of Natural Burial Grounds (ANBG) and its Code of Conduct requires us to provide families arranging funerals with us an opportunity to complete a ANBG feedback form which is returned directly to the ANBG headquarters.

This feedback is the criteria used by the judges for the award. These awards are different to any other kind of assessment of green cemeteries. They are not about how sustainable each site is, the facilities that are available or the way the land is managed. The People’s Awards are all about the people involved, the level of service they provide, the personal touches and the impact that each natural burial ground staff member has made on the families of those who they have helped to bury.

A list of species we have seen on the site can be found here. If you visit and see anything that is not on the list please do let us know.