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

As long as you don't stand on the graves or sit and have a picnic I don't see a problem.

I was taking a stroll in Abney Park cemetery once and found a nice clearing with a bench and so I sat there a while. A middle aged Turkish man sat down and made conversation about his past lives as a tailor and taxi driver.
Then he asked me to come back to his place for a shag and told me he liked to lick...
I left very swiftly.
Goodness knows what goes on in that place at night.
Some really cool stone angels, mausoleums etc

I think it’s a really respectful thing to read the headstones that were paid for by bereaved family members because they wanted the world know that the person buried there was loved and important to someone.

Some people might find it creepy but I think it's really peaceful, and interesting thinking about the people buried there. I guess I wouldn't want to walk around a new cemetery, where the headstones were all recently deceased. I guess I'd feel weird or a bit disrespectful if the bereaved people were there and it was not long ago. Plus it wouldn't have the history and nature you get in old cemeteries. There's some old graves in our local churchyard and kids all play there, people walk their dogs, have picnics.

It's fine, and if it's a very old graveyard it's a piece of history. I always find it sad the high infant mortality rate in previous centuries, and give a little silent prayer for the little children xx

Not weird at all.

A cemetery in a nearby city is the most amazing place. Absolutely stunning gravestones (big and posh with statues) and so peaceful despite being in the middle of a big city.

I quite regularly eat my lunch in Brompton Cemetary. It's beautiful and peacefull. I see lots of other people eating their lunch, relaxing and strolling. It's not disrespectful at all.

If nothing else, they are a good place to remind ourselves of what will eventually happen to us. I read this on a headstone when I was a kid and it never left me:

As you pass by, on me cast your eye
I once was as you are now,
As I am now, you too will be
Prepare, in time, to follow me.

It was on the gravestone of someone who had died in the late 19th C. Sums it up really. Life is short, it's later than you think. Being reminded of that fact never hurts. Enjoy it all while you can.

I LOVE walking around cemeteries. They're the weirdo.

It's very interesting looking at graveyards from different cultures. We had one near our campsite in Luxembourg and we wandered around it in the evening. Very ornate with massive granite slabs.

Some cultures have amazing gravestones with a lot of decorations. New Orleans was fascinating as they were basically all above ground.

We have a nice Victorian one in York.

I also walk around the war graves ones when abroad. We did one in Arnhem recently.

When i was a kid my mum sometimes took me and my sister for a picnic in the churchyard.
A friend's horse used to graze there and lots of people spent time there.

I find cemeteries very peaceful places and I'm comforted by the thought that the people buried there were remembered and honoured by those close to them.
I used to live opposite an old cemetery and have happy memories of sitting on a bench feeding DD2 whilst DD1 rode her bike quietly up and down the main path away from the graves.

I was walking through my local one in the sunshine yesterday and came across the headstone of 4 children of one family who had all died in the space of 10 months in 1880. Absolutely tragic. I had a little cry and thanked the Heavens for my good fortune.

Not at all. Except there’s a man who walks his dog around where my family are buried and he lets it pee against headstones and I think that is disgusting (and tell him so!).

I live just ''down the road'' about half an hour away by train.I've seen the tours advertised,I keep meaning to book one. One day.

I was thinking Arnos Vale too (am Bristol born and bred).
They do tours there sometimes, where they talk about some of graves and the people there.

If you're talking about Arnos Vale,it's a lovely spot to wander round. Very interesting and so very peaceful. I've not been for a while but really want to go back for a walk and a coffee.

Absolutely fine OP. I love reading gravestones and feel it is respectful to think of people.

We occasionally picnic in the beautiful churchyard in the village where I grew up as my mum and dad, grandparents, aunts and uncles and loads of other people who loved us are there.

I tend to steer clear of the newer graves, but otherwise I spend quite a lot of my time exploring graveyards! We have some huge ones here with fascinating old memorials and beautiful peaceful gardens. I think it's the opposite of disrespectful to visit them and appreciate the beauty and tranquility. As long as you're not smoking weed or blasting out music I think your friend is being a numpty. Is she usually professionally offended?

I love walking round graveyards and reading the headstones. Used to walk through one every day to get to school. Now there's one across the road from DD's school so whenever I go there for parents evening or whatever, I have a little wander round the graveyard first.
I especially love to visit the graveyard on Independence Day (Finland), Christmas Eve, and All Saint's Day as people put candles on the graves so the whole place is a sea of flickering candles - its beautiful, peaceful, and thought-provoking. DD lights a candle for her dad and puts it at the marker stone for those buried elsewhere (there's always a crowd of candles there) and I light one for my grandparents.

I lost my mum two years ago. I often take a picnic blanket and a coffee and look over the beautiful view. Completely peaceful and serene. I do a lot of thinking and chatting to my mum!
Sometimes I take a little walk around. You're not being unreasonable, I think they're lovely places to be.

I like looking at the gravestones and exploring the history of the place and people there.

I work next to a beautiful cemetery and often walk round it at lunchtime. I also like visiting cemeteries when I'm away. Don't think it's weird!

The Victorian cemetery near me has it's "open day" (=big fete) soon and actively encourages visitors with tours and events, as do many other older cemeteries.
Not weird at all.