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 🤔

Did you know that the ornaments on victorian graves have specific meanings? For example, a broken pillar means a life cut short and the grave will invariably have a burial of someone young.

Don’t be daft. They are designed to be quite places of contemplation for the living.

I am sure many people will disagree but I would quite like the idea of dogs being exercised,, children playing football, young couples snogging , some one enjoying a premixed cocktail with a picnic lunch etc in my final resting place!

I keep meaning to read up on this. I often stop and read the older ones and clear them etc. I think it's a mark of respect. We amble though very slowly it's lovely. An old man told me it's stunning in the spring with all the bulbs coming up. It has a wild area at the back and that's where ddog toilets, he knows the drill.

There is a cemetery near me where families are encouraged to go and explore.
There's streams, a pond, bug hotels, woodcarvings and a wildflower meadow. My ds used to love visiting there when he was little. It's very peaceful. We have family graves there so it's also a good, gentle way to teach children about remembering family and paying their respects.

This is how I feel. They should see life.

Not at all disrespectful .

I like reading the stones and wondering who the person was.

I hope when I am long forgotten on this Earth, someone might read my name and wonder who
I was.

Arnos Vale is gorgeous! They also do weddings there.
I used to take my old Lurcher and Whippet there, occasionally, and they loved the trails.
A Bristol version of Highgate Cemetery.
I do walk current dog in Cemetery where Dad {and Birth mum} are, and as long as one keeps to paths, and is scrupulous about bagging and binning poo, can't see a problem.
Pic of Dog with group of women also visiting the Cemetery

So people are letting their dogs crap in graveyards. That is disrespectful.

Far from it. Graveyards are one of my favourite places - I enjoy looking at the headstones and trying to imagine the types of lives the people had. And they are, by and large, peaceful, somewhere to get away from the bustle of daily life and unclench.

I think it is much nicer if graveyards are busy and full of people carrying on with their lives. Those who have died would be happy to see life carrying on as normal. For me, that includes walkeres, cyclists, runners, children playing.

There is nothing more sad and unremembered, than a desolate and unvisited graveyard.

I think it’s fine but you might want to double check about whether they allow dogs. The cemetery where my mum is buried doesn’t allow them. The only other thing I’d say is probably something that is obvious but maybe just to respect the space of those visiting the graves of loved ones.

I sometimes still get upset when I visit/tend my mums grave and might shed a little tear, I hate being gawped at by people walking through the cemetery whilst doing so, think I’ve just been unlucky though! Also I do like the idea of people passing through as it might put off those who keep taking things from graves, so fed up with flowers/ flower holders gone the next day.

Of course it isn’t. What an odd question.

I think the opposite! Obviously throwing bottles, peeing against graves, not picking up after dogs and the like is very disrespectful of the living and the dead.

However, daily life, walking, even running, quiet reflection, couples holding hands and chatting, people reading the gravestones etc is actually a way in my mind of keeping the deceased as part of the world (I'm not religious and don't particularly believe in an afterlife). Caveat is that discretion should be practiced. When services are taking place or people appear to be grieving, it's probably not the time to sprint by or go in for a snog.

The opposite of disrespectful.

I agree, they’re banned from our village graveyard because of the local asshole dog owners who let their dogs crap anywhere and everywhere 🤬
I love visiting old graveyards, they’re really special places.

Goodness me @ColinRobinsonsfamiliar get out of bed the wrong side today or are you just one of those keyboard warriors who like attacking people from behind the safety of your screen and keyboard. 🙄

That's pretty rank I agree. However, DM's grave is next to a nature reserve and the foxes and deer (and the odd badger, a particular nuisance) are regular visitors leaving their mark. We can only leave fake flowers as the deer eat everything, and the foxes and rabbits dig everywhere..... but you know..... it's natural, back to nature stuff, and I quite like that.

I'll probably opt for cremation but like you, I quite like the idea of life going on around me.

I think a quiet walk around is fine. After all some are even tourist destinations.

But yes, it should be respectful.

So for example it's OK for children visiting a grave to behave like children (eg quiet playing) but it's not a place to take your DC so they can play, and it should never impinge on others who are there

Obviously not in London,they're used as parks there, our local one had open fun days with a bouncy castle.

I know the graves in the churchyards in the town I work in really well, as they are where I go when I’ve had enough of living people and need to get away for a bit of peace and quiet. Church yards are one of my most favourite places 🥰

I feel that way about it too. There used to be some large horse chestnut trees bordering the path that runs along the outside of our local cemetery, and some people were offended that the conkers were collected by children in the cemetery itself (from the path, not the graves) and the council went and cut the trees down. When I think of how many of the people buried there would have collected conkers from those trees as children themselves and it was their descendants picking them up, it is rather sad really. I'm sure they wouldn't have minded the tradition continuing at all.

There is a saying that you only fully die once your name is no longer spoken. Saying the babes in the tomb stones prevents that.