Have you ever buried something in your back garden? Ever stashed away anything secret as a child, laid a loved one to rest, or wanted to cover up something best forgotten..? 51% of people have, according to a survey we conducted.
We’re a nation of animal lovers, so it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise that out of everything that was buried something, 77% were pets:
- 26% cats
- 18% dogs
- 9% birds
- 8% rabbits
- 7% fish
- 5% guinea pigs
- 27% undisclosed
- And even a deer that was found by the roadside.
Perhaps cats are easier to lay into the ground than dogs. Or most people take the traditional drainage route to dispose of deceased fish. Clearly, it seems an unusual decision to bury roadkill in the garden.
The next most popular items are time capsules, but only making up 4% of the total buried. Many people had made them for their grandchildren, or made them when they themselves were younger. But how many of us have ever excavated our buried memories?
It can be a fascinating insight into the minds of our neighbours to uncover what people have stowed away in their soil. Here are a few of the stranger things people admitted to burying:
- A piano frame
- A ‘husband’s dinner’
- ‘New potatoes in a sealed tin to dig up again for Christmas dinner’
- A daughter’s letter to her older self
- A copper coin ‘to make a plant turn blue’
- A pig’s head
- A mangle
- A broken bath
- An old hard drive
- A miniature spitting image statue of Margaret Thatcher
- A love letter
- A banana to ward off verrucas
- The diaries of someone’s mother who had died of dementia
- And a wish (that apparently came true).
Thank you to everyone who took part in our survey, and we hope you find the results as fascinating as we do!
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George works in the Primrose marketing team. As a lover of all things filmic, he also gets involved with our TV ads and web videos.
George’s idea of the perfect time in the garden is a long afternoon sitting in the shade with a good book. A cool breeze, peace and quiet… But of course, he’s usually disturbed by his energetic wire fox terrier, Poppy!
He writes about his misadventures in repotting plants and new discoveries about cat repellers.