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

[JuvenileBigfoot]

Told a friend I went for a walk in a local cemetery. She thinks it's creepy and disrespectful. I think it's a nice quet place to take a walk.

Admittedly I also like looking at old headstones, but I feel like reading the names and dates is acknowledging that person's life and is not disrespectful.

The cemetery in question is old, and no longer accepts burials but is open to the public. However, I've also walked around open cemeteries.

What do you think? Creepy ot not?

Not creepy at all. I walk round my local cemetery every day. It is so peaceful and beautiful and full of nature. It grounds and connects me.

Not at all. Although I have seen people doing professional style photo-shoots in picturesque cemeteries and I find that weird. Not necessarily wrong as such, but it doesn't sit right with me.

There were a fair amount of other people there. Cyclists and joggers who do a loop then out the other side. Some people walking. Couple of dog walkers. 3 young lads chatting on a bench. A nice atmosphere altogether.

Absolutely fine. When I was a kid my grandfather worked in a cemetery as maintenance. The back garden of their home backed on to the cemetery. He and I used to go for walks in the cemetery and it's a treasure memory. Later on as an angsty moody terribly deep late teen early 20s I would spend time there as its usually a quiet version of a park - they can be loud. Now in my 50s, we have an old cemetery, the church is from 1100 or thereabouts. It's a tiny little place but i like to sit there with an ice cream on summer days.

Cemeteries are fascinating. I remember visiting some very old ones in London and wondering what it was like when these people were alive 150+ years ago.

DD and I regularly go walking in our local cemetery. Loads of huge old trees, birds and insects, mushrooms, wildflowers, etc. We don't pick anything but sometimes take photos and are respectful of anybody visiting the graves or memorial gardens.

Refer your friend to Highgate cemetery for starters. It's a tourist destination.

We actively search out cemeteries

This has reminded me, when I was in Brownies we used to walk up to the graveyard to play games. (Brownies was held in the small church hall, guides in the big one) There was a wide flat but with no graves. In guides we practiced putting tents up there. It was a beautiful place and I think people being there and using the space is a good thing!

This thread made me think about Highgate Cemetery and I found out they have guided tours and there is a Tripadvisor page for London cemeteries.

Not creepy at all, OH and I often look around old church cemeteries while on holiday. The last one was a couple of weeks ago, St Nonna's Church, in Cornwall. I find them peaceful and like reading (and wondering about) the names on the gravestones.

When I was at primary school my friends and I used to play around the graves in an old Victorian cemetery in Clifton, Bristol. Don't think the interred minded much.

Not disrespectful at all, sadly my FIL is getting to an old age and we went for a walk near his that had a public right of way through a churchyard. He saw some names and was able to tell me some stories about them. I thought that was really interesting and the people were remembered. There will come a time when no one remembers us.

No it's not - I'd often take my 3 kids to walk round one - we'd try and find the oldest grave and we'd talk about the lives of the people buried there 100 years ago or more - what they may have lived like, what jobs they did, did they die in a war or from old age etc - good bit of social history (passed down from my mum who used to do the same with me and my sister).

It's normal to me. Cemeteries are lovely peaceful places to walk. We often walk round the cemetery when visiting a relatives grave. The kids find it fascinating to read the headstones. Another local cemetery, an old one closed to burials now, does regular organized nature and history walks. We did a fungi one in the autumn and we've been there for a kids treasure hunt type thing where they had to spot particular statues and names. It's an important part of local history and the people buried presumably wanted to be remembered and remain part of the community.

Not creepy at all. I often visit churches and graveyards when I’m on holiday. I read the names say a little prayer. It makes me smile when I see the ones where they’ve died at a good old age. It makes me tear up a little at the children. It’s not disrespectful if all you are doing is walking and reading. It’s not like your having a party in the graveyard.

Walked through ours loads, The Essex Way actually goes through the church graveyard (in fact through at least 2 that I know of).
I used to stop running and walk through until the Vicar saw me one day and told me to keep on running (in his words "God gave me the ability to run and won't be offended if I do"). Only time I wall through now is if there's a funeral, but that much the same as I would stop if a hearse was going past me on the road, simple respect that was drummed in to me growing up

One of my favourite places to walk! I find it interesting as well as sad. I feel like I am acknowledging those buried there-the graveyard near me is very old and a lot of the graves are long-forgotten. Some are totally disintegrated or have fallen over.

Absolutely fine. Graveyard and cemeteries can be fascinating

I try and visit graveyards of everywhere we go on holiday. I find it peaceful.

I think Beatrix Potter visited a cemetery/s to look for names for her characters (don't think I made that up?)

I live beside a big cemetery and walk in it most days. It's beautiful, and peaceful and I love it.
A friend did once say "But you watch the Walking Dead!" in horror but I pointed out that TWD is not a documentary.

Totally normal. And they are important local green spaces. Walking round them hopefully delays you ending up in the ground in one.

There's a lovely graveyard close to us with a stream, a pond, a wildflower meadow, tree carvings, benches and a bug hotel. One of ds's favourite activities to do with my mum and dad when he was little was visit there. Thr church encouraged children to play, explore and create respectfully.

We have a beautiful old cemetery in Bristol, very old, and was abandoned at one stage. Now it is a vibrant place with a cafè and they also hold weddings there. My granddaughter wants to get wed there when she's older. I can easily spend a couple of hours there, especially as a keen photographer, looking at the old gravestones and taking photos of the more unusual ones

I've had the joy of living next to a few of 'the magnificent seven' in London. They're a haven for wildlife, a respite from the bustle of the city for humans. This time of year, they are bursting with daffodils, bluebells hawthorns and birds building nests, some of the headstones and crypts are works of art. It's such a peaceful place to go for a walk.

I don't know, but DS1's name came from a war memorial.