A Frome farmer is hoping to turn one of his fields into an environmentally-friendly natural burial ground.

Ed Green, of Banks Farm, Houston Way, has applied to Mendip District Council for planning permission to change the use of a 1.8 hectare field in West Cranmore, and to create a small car park and build a wooden cabin for shelter and 'cremonial gathering space' and separate compost toilet.

In a document supporting his application Mr Green says his family have been farming the land for seven generations.

But, where once the demand from government and society was for food production, this has now changed "towards a desire for a custodianship of the land that protects and encourages wildlife habitat, combats climate change and provides for the changing needs of people in the local community".

He said: "It came to our attention that there is a need for a natural burial ground in our area.

"Many in society are now seeking a different way to bury their dead as an alternative to a grave with a headstone in increasingly overcrowded churchyards or the sanitised and commercialised world of crematoriums.

"A natural burial ground provides an opportunity for families to gather in a peaceful and nature-based setting to lay their dead to rest.

"Funerals have also become too expensive for many to afford and natural burials help reduce this cost by taking out the costs of chemical treatments to bodies and the encouragement of lower cost coffins made of materials like willow."

Frome's Greenwood Funerals is supporting the scheme and, in a letter, director Charles Kemp describes Mr Green's natural burial ground plan as "well thought out".

He said: "There is a real need in Frome and the surrounding area for a natural burial ground of this kind.

"At present, we are unable to fulfil the wishes of families who come to us asking for somewhere local and environmentally-friendly to hold a funeral.

"Attitudes towards funerals have changed significantly in recent years and it is important that families have choice as to how and where they hold a funeral.

"For many, cremations, municipal cemeteries and church graveyards simply do not offer the emotional resonance we owe to those who are grieving the loss of a family member or friend."

The field has, most recently, been used for pony grazing and to provide winter fodder for cattle.

"Leaving the field as a meadow with some tree planting would be a natural progression with no real change in visual impact as bodies and ash would be below ground," Mr Green said.

"To anyone passing the site there would be no obvious indication that the land was a graveyard.

"There could be an option for a burial or ash scattering to have an accompanying tree planted as well."

Graves would not have headstones, instead small plaques would be attached to the wooden cabin "to honour those resting in peace".

A trust fund would be set up to maintain the burial ground once it was full and ensure it would never be sold.