A DEVOTED widow has cemented her everlasting love of her late husband by having him buried in the back garden of their home he “never wanted to leave”.

Patricia Waters, of Kidderminster, only has to look out of her window to feel close to her husband Edward, 87, after he was buried at the bottom of the garden of one of their two adjoining homes last Saturday .

The unusual burial is believed to be the first of its kind in Kidderminster after Mrs Waters kept a promise the couple had made to bury her husband of 27 years at the house he loved.

The 81-year-old, of Larches Court, said the former teachers made the rare decision after they spotted a story in a magazine some years ago, which stated such burials were legal under the Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880.

“We both discussed it together,” she said. “I thought it was a good idea because I’m still close to him. I always spend a lot of time in the garden. I love my garden.”

Edwin Harris and Sons Funeral Directors, which arranged the service, said it was the first burial of its kind it had carried out in the town.

A small funeral service was conducted by Mrs Waters in the lounge of the next-door house -which she also owns – before the eight-strong congregation went out into the garden of the
house where she lives for the burial.

A priest friend of the couple was due to conduct a mass but fell ill, so Mrs Waters, also a former wife of the late Kidderminster rocket scientist Maurice Darwell, had to step in at the last minute.

“Edward’s body spent the night of Friday, December 6 in [the house] and then, after the
funeral service was buried in the garden, at noon,” she said.

“Edward would have loved it. He knew that he was going to be in the garden. He never wanted to leave this house.

"I can look out the window and see him. It’s nice having him close.”
Mr Waters, who taught at St Ambrose Primary School for 21 years, died on the morning
of Saturday, November 30.

The religious couple, who met at the school , dedicated their adjoining house to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Mrs Waters said: “The marriage was absolutely fantastic. We got on so well. It was a fantastic marriage in every way.”

She added her husband was given just months to live after having his stomach and half of
his intestines removed when he was diagnosed with cancer 20 years ago.

She added: “He was a quiet person and like a rock. You could always trust him and he
was always there for me.”

She added she hoped to be buried in her garden next to her husband when she died.

Mark Bullivant, of funeral directors Edwin Harris, said: “We’ve never done a burial in someone’s back garden. We’ve done them in houses with acres of land but never in a house in Kidderminster."