Memorial garden brings sanctuary for parents grieving 'lost babies'

Watch: James Davies reports from the memorial garden at Thatcham. He spoke to Jo Steel from the charity SANDS, and Stephanie Langford from the crematorium.

A garden has been created in Berkshire for families who have suffered the loss of a baby during pregnancy or at birth.

In the UK, it's estimated that one in four pregnancies end in loss before a baby has reached full term.

The stillbirth and neonatal death charity SANDS - is encouraging those affected to use the memorial garden to reflect and remember. 

Jo Steel, who lost her daughter Isla nine years ago at 38 weeks, says the baby garden still plays a big part in easing her grief:

"It's really important for bereaved families to have somewhere local and calm and beautiful to come to reflect," she says, "to reflect on their loss and think about their babies.

"Unfortunately at thirty-eight-weeks our baby's heart stopped and we were told at the hospital that she had died.

"When you lose a baby during or shortly after pregnancy you don't necessarily have a focal point or a place that you can go to.

"So to come somewhere like as beautiful as this, it just makes it a little bit easier to navigate such a difficult journey."

The idea for the garden came after staff realised families had nowhere to go after losing a child.

"The way that we felt was that the loss of any loved one is truly an upsetting time for families but the loss of a baby is heartbreaking," says Stephanie Langford from West Berkshire crematorium.

"What we really needed was a place for families to be able to visit after the loss."

“I wanted to provide a specific place at West Berkshire Crematorium for families to visit after a pregnancy loss.

“The Baby Garden is for the scattering of remains and will be available for any child but it has primarily been designed to provide a specific place for the pregnancy loss of less than 24 week gestation cremations we carry out on behalf of Tomalin and Sons Funeral Directors and the Royal Berkshire Hospital.”

Stephanie added: “Children can still have individual plots in the main grounds, but we wanted to create an additional tranquil area for families to go to after a pregnancy loss or baby death.”