Cemetery maintenance

[Idontwantaname]

Hello
My husband died two years ago and he was buried. I bought the plot from the local authority. My funeral director helped me choose a gravestone which is just a headstone, no marking out of the whole plot. The FD said if you just have a headstone the cemetery keepers will mow grass if you get it laid on the rest of the plot. I got grass laid this spring and I went once with a battery powered lawn mower and cut the grass before a special occasion this summer but I’ve been back now and the grass is foot high again.
Have any of you have similar difficulties? I had assumed (and FD had implied) that cemetery staff would work around the headstone once turf was laid.
TIA X

I am sorry for your loss.

My father died last year and I was told the same. Unfortunately the grass has on a number of occasions (especially during lockdown) become overgrown (which is upsetting). I don't think they do cut the grass very often (it might be worth getting in touch with the local authority and querying how often it is done in your area - I imagine COVID will also have caused a bit of a backlog?).

At my fathers cemetery the groundsmen have a little shed- when his grave needed filling in more I would go there and ask them for help. If you have something similar it may be worth popping by /getting to know them. I know that the number of groundsmen has been massively cut as part of the austerity drive and one said to me they were struggling to keep up with opening new graves and maintaining grass as they used to. That may just be a local issue - I dont know.

I live at the other end of the country from where my father is buried and have been very fortunate in that some of the other visitors who live locally and are able to visit their loved ones more regularly have kindly done may fathers grass when they are doing their own. If you can make friends with some of the other visitors that might be helpful - you could set up some sort of a rota like we have done or just look out for each other? There are normally many visitors to cemeteries and they will be experiencing something similar so may be keen to help?

Good luck.