Not your average walk in the park

Visiting a cemetery is probably not what first comes to mind when you’re thinking about what you want to do in London. But that’s actually where I’m writing this post, at the Abney Park Cemetery in North East London.

Today was going to be the first warm day of the year, so I got up early and went to Stoke Newington (don’t ask me why) to walk around and take some pictures. But then I passed by this cemetery that for some reason intrigued me. And when the sun is shining, and you’re not there for someone you know, cemeteries can actually be very nice quiet parks to walk around. With dead people, but they probably won’t bother you.

This place is amazing. It’s such a beautiful park, but almost all the tombstones have been neglected over the years and nature has clearly taken over.

When you read the words on the stones it’s obvious that once people paid a lot of attention to how this person should be remembered. I saw one old grave that mentioned the book he had written, and I wondered if he was a well known author in his days. Another one said something about what a great cyclist he had been. Was he once breaking world records?

It kind of makes you sad to see how this place is looking now, where even though still many locals pass by them on their daily jog or while walking their dog, the graves are clearly being neglected. No fresh flowers, but stones that have fallen down and are now covered with moss. Which makes it kind of an interesting place to photograph I must admit…..

So if you’re looking for something different to do, this is definitely an interesting place to visit. Next time I’ll post something more ‘alive’..