To think it's not weird, creepy or disrespectful to go for a walk around a cemetery

Of course it's not!! Your friend is odd. I used to play in the local cemetery as a child, and so did my mother before me. I think if I were long dead and buried I would like it if people walked past and read my headstone, at least someone would be thinking of me, if only for a brief moment.

Oh I feel so nostalgic for the days when I lived in St Helens. My children and I often met friends at the Cemetery for a walk on summer evenings.

It's not at all disrespectful, I always thought of the lives of the people there.
Our local cemetery isn't as friendly, iyswim!
It's more modern and less atmospheric.

I chose to spend my birthday wondering about at Highgate a few years back as it’s so beautiful, calm and essentially a form of history. I plan to visit the others that form part of the Magnificient Seven as they are known. There is also the Crossbones graveyard in London that was for the outcasts of society who wouldn’t be given normal burials such as prostitutes. I don’t find it creepy, I find it remembering those of the past and observing the beautiful sculptures, wondering about the lives of those resting there. As a post above observes they are also teeming with wildlife. On a recent visit to Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh I learnt that JK Rowling used several of the names on graveyards for the Harry Potter books. On a more local level I often walk the dog through our village one (not in a churchyard), obviously not close to the graves.

I also always read the plates on memorial benches as I walk past them in the park.

I quite often walk past a couple of churches with graveyards and sometimes pop in to have a rest on a bench and then look at the headstones. They are both rather lovely places especially at this time of year when they are full of wildflowers. Plus I often look at the very old, untended graves and think that those people probably have no living descendants in the area any more and even though I'm a complete stranger, at least I'm acknowledging that they lived a life when I stop by their graves. I live a long way from where any of my ancestors are buried and I like to think that someone also stops and reads their headstones sometimes. (Though maybe that is weird, I don't know!)

YANBU

One of the nicest graveyards I’ve seen was in a residential square in a European city. Families walking through, children running round. So nice not to be hidden away somewhere bleak and isolated and sombre. The people who’ve died lived too.

Another one that loves them. They're peaceful and it's great to acknowledge the lives that were once lived.

The only one I don't like is Valhalla in NY, just north of NYC. It's also the location of the train crash back in 2015. I don't even know why. Just driving the main road through that one gives me the heeby jeebies.

Clearly doesn't live in London then? Most of the big ones there are treated like parks almost. The one near where we used to live had an annual fun day/ fete.

I too find it interesting and tragic, especially the children and teens/young adults who’ve died too soon. I think it’s respectful to read the inscriptions so they still have some acknowledgement years later.

What I find abhorrent though is people who let their dogs off lead to crap on the graves.

We had this a while back while maintaining our baby DD’s grave (she was stillborn). Woman let her dog off lead when she came in and it came to crap about 6 foot away atop an unmarked child’s grave. She was most put out that we challenged her and said was disgusting as in her words ‘I’m picking it up and they’re gone so they don’t know’. Whether picking it up or not, it’s totally disrespectful especially in front of parents tending their own child’s grave. That really upset me for a while and I hope she was a one off and didn’t let her dog do that again!

I would walk my dog (on lead) round the cemetery as they were scared of other dogs so the park wasn't an option. I think we both appreciated the quiet, calm environment and would often spot wildlife. I find the graves interesting too, the more elaborate designs of the past, the lovely patina of lichen along with reading the names and ages. It would make me sad sometimes in the newer section seeing the faded old Christmas wreath from the last visit. The solar lights people use can make it quite eerie come dusk

If people are walking in cemeteries regularly it will hopefully deter the awful people who damage or steal things from graves.

I enjoy walking around local church graveyards - enjoy the flowers and foliage and read the names and dates of those laid to rest there and wonder about their lives
This is a lovely one not far from me where I have a least one long lost relative buried there

Idiot friend. Ltb.

Does your place have a heritage centre? Will have census records and other things

Its fine i do it every time i past one peaceful.
I always say stop and look for they was once us and we will become them.

We love cemetery walks, they're a place to be peaceful and reflective. I was brought to tears by a little boy once though. His Grandma and Mum were refreshing flowers on his Grandad's grave, and he came forward with a packet of crisps to put on the grave. Mum and Grandma said he always brought his Grandad a packet of his favourite crisps. I don't know why it affected me the way it did, but it was such a lovely gesture.

It seems perfectly normal to me, assuming you don't take a shovel with you of course!

I always say the children's names that I see out loud.

Walk with my dogs through ours regularly (we stay well away from any graves and stick to the paths, clear up etc etc). A few years ago we came across a movie being filmed! A real proper one that was in the pictures and everything.

We used to live away out in the wilderness, and there was a fabulous old graveyard there with the graves of many people from the local farming community. It was fascinating to see how many of the surnames still existed in our current neighbours.

There was a variation of that verse on one lady's grave. I forget her surname now but her first name was Betty, and I actually laughed out loud the first time I read the inscription - I thought it was pretty punchy for its time, and she sounded like someone I'd get on with! We used to take her a wee bunch of flowers from the garden sometimes, just to show that we appreciated her attitude!

Hers said:

"Remember, friend, as you walk by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, you will surely be,
So prepare yourself to follow me"!

We love a wander round an old graveyard too. I'm doing my family tree just now and although a lot of my relatives are buried in unmarked graves, particularly the children 😞, we still go and say their names out loud.

I think it's lovely .. your friend is OTT

It's not as famous as Highgate, but I work near Bunhill Fields which is just north of the Barbican and was a non conformist burial ground started in the 1600s - it's a fascinating place.

It also has some nice benches to sit with a sandwich and look out for wildlife 😊

I love cemeteries, they are so interesting and thought provoking and I feel close to history and past generations of people and their lives. Opposite of disrespectful.

That. The Glasgow Necropolis is amazing for the seafaring and travelling history of those buried there. It's a wonderful atmospheric place.

I actually seek out centuries when I'm travelling to places that used to be part of the empire. The ones in Kolkata, Darjeeling and Penang come to mind. The gravestones tell their own stories (often tragic) of the lives lived and lost back then.

Normal here. I used to look round graveyards with my cousin, reading the names and dates. And we used to walk to school through one too.

It still fascinates me and when we go to Whitby I spend a lot of time reading the graves. I also sit in a graveyard quite often waiting for DS to finish football. I take a book and read and it’s the most peaceful place. It’s nice to think in 100 years someone might be walking past my headstone and read who I was.

Not disrespectful or creepy at all. Cemeteries, particularly old ones, are fascinating. I highly recommend Brompton Cemetery for a wander if you’re ever in south west London.

Not creepy, weird or disrespectul at all. I enjoy walking around my local cemetery and realising that each person buried there had a different life journey. It's a crazy thought. It's also a great place to reflect and collect your thoughts. In fact, my local cemetery is a short cut to a main shopping centre, so it's often got people walking through just to get to that. Your friend is the weird one.