It seems pretty macabre to many, but there are a lot of people who find peace and comfort and just generally enjoy walking in a graveyard. It's been something I have done and been fond of for many years, I actually have memories of exploring and (respectfully) appreciating the beautiful ancient headstones as far back as middle school. Churches and the accompanying grounds have always drawn me despite being faithless.
From paying my respects and thinking of the people who have long been gone from the living world, no longer with living relatives to stop by, to relishing nature and wildlife in a quiet surrounding, I love taking time to visit cemeteries.
Where we currently live is quite built up. Housing estates and roads and shops. However, I found Harton Cemetery was only an 8-minute drive from our home and decided to bookmark it for a day we were heading out on a walk.
On the 2nd of January, we headed out in the car, camera in tow and had a surprisingly lovely hour out of the house at Harton Cemetery.
I said 'surprisingly lovely' not because I was expecting the cemetery itself to be underwhelming or anything but because before we even left the car we were greeted with squirrels playing and then one of my first ever birding photos of the year was of a Great Spotted Woodpecker! A bird I haven't seen in years and one I did not expect to see in such an area.
This wonderful ground is huge though. A fantastic home for wildlife as well as a beautiful eternal resting place. There were quite a few other people walking dogs, visiting graves or taking their kids on bike rides but it is so big, with many paths, that you can easily walk around without needing to pass another person.
The sun rising gave a golden glow and I left feeling happier than I had in a while.
I hope you enjoyed my photos.
As an FYI, I try not to photograph any 'newer' graves and obviously none that are visibly visited and tended often out of respect for any family as I would not appreciate a stranger sharing my families graves online. I hope that I have succeeded.
The final grave shown above was a relatively new one that I debated on photographing. However, there are no surnames or dates shown and I really just thought the statement engraved was truly touching.
Until next time...
This wonderful ground is huge though. A fantastic home for wildlife as well as a beautiful eternal resting place. There were quite a few other people walking dogs, visiting graves or taking their kids on bike rides but it is so big, with many paths, that you can easily walk around without needing to pass another person.
The sun rising gave a golden glow and I left feeling happier than I had in a while.
I hope you enjoyed my photos.
As an FYI, I try not to photograph any 'newer' graves and obviously none that are visibly visited and tended often out of respect for any family as I would not appreciate a stranger sharing my families graves online. I hope that I have succeeded.
The final grave shown above was a relatively new one that I debated on photographing. However, there are no surnames or dates shown and I really just thought the statement engraved was truly touching.
Until next time...
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