Is it disrespectful to stroll around a cemetery?

[FuckConvoGiveMeAForest]

Only on the footpath obviously. Not visiting, just walking through it. The trees and birds etc... so peaceful. But is it wrong? I'm in two minds 🤔

Quietly walking, fine. Letting kids and dogs stepping and running around graves, no.

Not at all, I used to walk to school through a cemetery. On the paths, never stepped in the graves, though sometimes I’d meander along and read the headstones.

@MatildaJayne - sure do….. Arrrnos Vale.

The Bristol burr still comes out on certain words and I quite like that. Also still say “Cheers Drive” on the bus! Aah happy memories of Bristol.

Once I was there and two elderly-ish gardeners who had been toiling away saw one of these runners and they really gave it to them both barrels about respect. The runner walked the rest of the way.
Giving someone "both barrels" in a cemetery sounds far more twatty and disrespectful then quietly running through it.
When I visit to put flowers down etc people quietly going about their life enjoying it, jogging, walking, eating lunch is lovely tbh.

In Devon there is a competition for the best churchyard. The spaces are all kept by volunteers and are special places for people and for wildlife. There is nothing they like more than the thought that people go there fo a peaceful walk.

Agree with others - it's fine. There's an old church graveyard near where I used to live that's been turned into a nature reserve type place so it's all overgrown and volunteers go on to keep the paths clear etc. It's lovely.

Some cemeteries are visited by a great many people who want to visit the graves of famous people, like Pere Lachaise in Paris or Highgate Cemetery in London. Walking round is absolutely fine.

Not at all. It's nice to think of the people there not being alone

I went back to the village I was brought up in and wandered round the grave yard So many familiar names and some sad ones of people who died too young .I think it was lovely to give those people a thought and remember memories of them when they were alive.

Where we used to live, the local cemetery had a right of way through it and probably half of all the local school kids walked through it to get to school. It was a traffic free, safe and peaceful school run and prompted deep conversations between myself and my young children. I dont think it is the least disrespectful to walk through one, either to get to somewhere beyond, or just to stroll quietly within its confines. Come to think of it, when my eldest started toddling, the local cemetery (different to the one I mentioned above) was a safe place for him to practice walking.

Old graveyards can be fascinating, we always stop and look round when we're visiting new towns. I particularly like coastal churchyards and often look up the history of the names and shipwrecks recorded on gravestones. A historian from our local museum used to do tours of our local graveyard. He'd researched some of the people in there and told the stories of those with interesting lives or who were prominent local business people etc.

I find graveyards fascinating - and when I have been abroad, it's interesting to see different cultures attitudes.

Some ornate ones in Luxembourg with massive granite slabs. In New Orleans where they seemed to be above ground.

We have a really old one in York. It's interesting to walk around www.yorkcemetery.co.uk/

I have never seen someone jogging in a cemetery.

It’s amazing for wildlife too and it is just fascinating

The cemetery near me is huge, The right of way through it is very well used. I regularly see people jogging, walking, children walking home from school, people pushing prams etc. Open green space in cities is precious and should be used.

I love walking around cemeteries. So peaceful and often fascinating. It's absolutely fine as long as you are respectful. There's one near me on the route of a walk I take and it has a bench in the grounds. I always sit there and just take in the peace and also visit the grave of a newborn who was born on the same day as me. It's so moving and a reminder of the frailty of life.

There’s a beautiful old cemetery I visit a few times a year, for a peaceful walk, and to think about the people I miss (even though none of them are buried there). There is an enclosed ‘baby garden’ that I wouldn’t go in, and I’m conscious of not disturbing people visiting the newer graves to lay flowers. The rest of the cemetery is Victorian and war-era graves though, and it’s a peaceful, pleasant place for a ponderous walk.

When I was 11/12 years old I attended a school that if you brought your own packed lunch to school, you had to leave the school premises.

There was a very old and large cemetery opposite the school so I used to go there everyday. It was very beautiful and peaceful. I remember looking at the graves where so many children had died. Not so much fun in winter though.

I was a very well behaved girl and no one ever questioned me.

My local graveyard doesn't allow dogs so maybe check that first.

Not disrespectful, I volunteer in a local cemetery and we are actively seeking ways to increase visitors, including adding a cafe in the old lodge building.

Not at all so long as you're quiet and respectful. When my dc were younger they used to like reading the gravestones in our local cemetery. Some were hardly legible and we'd take time trying to work out the names and dates. I like to think the dead and their loved ones would be comforted that their gravestones had visitors.

If you were visiting the cemetery where my mum is buried, I can promise you she'd be happy about it. She'd be even happier if you could bring a dog or two.

I personally don’t think it’s respectful to walk a dog round a cemetery. You cannot control them needing to wee/poo and I would be devastated to see a dog relieving itself near my siblings grave.

It's quite common to have a public footpath running through a church graveyard and doubtless other cemeteries. Of course it's ok. Some have benches - they're meant to be used.

I walk my (very quiet and calm) dog twice a day around a cemetery. It's a perfect place for nervous dogs. He's on a long lead (ish) but I don't let him toilet on a grave and obvs always pick up anything he does anywhere else. The headstones seem to have good smells so I think a lot wildlife must shelter or hop around them. There is a pathway trodden through the grass down the sides of graves and around so we stick to that , we don't stride across graves but he might have a little sniff. I only let him sniff the very old ones though (19th c). Ive met some lovely people who are tending to their loved ones graves.