GOLDEN VALLEY WOODLAND BURIAL GROUND

Set in a tranquil corner of the wooded Golden Valley Country Park, near Ripley, in Derbyshire, this Woodland Burial Ground is truly special, being the only one in the country that has a preserved steam railway line running alongside.

The Woodland Burial Ground is just under one acre in size and is accessed by a footpath that runs parallel to the Midland Railway Centre’s steam line from Newlands Road, at Riddings, near Ripley.

(The burial ground is between five and ten minutes drive from where the A38 passes near to Alfreton.)

Golden Valley Woodland Cemetery is also the venue used by people who choose to have a Railway Funeral.

As well as bringing benefits to the environment, every burial here helps the Midland Railway Centre, the preservation group committed to maintaining the traditions of our glorious steam heritage.

PURCHASING A PLOT

If you wish, you can pre-purchase the rights to your own burial plot at Golden Valley Woodland Burial Ground. This way you can avoid any future price rises and, at the same time, ensure that a plot is reserved for you.

Burial plots are all single depth. You can also pre-purchase neighbouring plots, or even family plots, and you are allowed to select where within the Burial Ground you would like your plot(s) to be.

Exclusive right of burial in a single plot costs £450 for a plot where no tree or shrub is planted, £525 for a plot where a shrub is planted or £800 for a plot where a tree is planted. At the time of the burial, a fee is charged for digging the grave. This charge is currently £425.

For the burial rights of a cremated remains double plot, the cost is between £365 and £600, depending upon the type of plot chosen. At the time of interment, there will be an additional charge to pay - currently this is £125.

You can pay for your plot either with one outright payment, or by instalments over 12 months.

If you think that you might like to pre-purchase burial rights, or would like some literature to be sent to you, just mark the appropriate box on the Information Request form and we will send you the necessary documents in the post.

Click here for details of our South Yorkshire Woodland Burial Ground

DETAILED DIRECTIONS

• Where the A38 passes near to Alfreton, take the B6179 signed ‘Swanwick’ and ‘Midland Railway Centre’. (This is left if you are travelling south on the A38, and right if you are northbound.)

• Continue straight ahead following signs to ‘Swanwick’ and ‘Ripley’ until you come to a set of traffic lights where there is a church with a large tower on your left and a pub before it, also on your left, called the ‘Steampacket’. At this junction, turn left between the pub and the church.

• After three quarters of a mile, you will come to some traffic lights. Turn right at this junction on to the road signposted ‘Selston B6016’.

• Continue straight along this road, ignoring the turn off to the left three quarters of a mile along signposted ‘Selston’. (At this junction ‘Golden Valley’ is signposted straight ahead.)

• Continue downhill on Newlands Road. Begin to go more slowly when the housing comes to an end and there are open fields on both sides.

• After about another 250 metres, you will notice that the footpath on the right hand side begins to widen, just before you reach a low profile railway bridge (this bridges the Midland Railway Centre’s steam line). Park your car on this wide section of path.

• Now continue to walk in the same direction that you have been travelling. Cross over the railway bridge and then turn right immediately afterwards, down an unsigned gated track that runs next to the railway line. After about 150 metres this track opens out into the burial ground.

Click here for a map of the area