Highgate Cemetery

When I die, I want to be buried. I want a mausoleum to be filled with gin and a record player so my loved ones can visit and have a giggle at all the fun times we had. Maybe it should be filled with art and dried flowers and a chaise? I need inspo (and some serious cash monies) so where better to look than Highgate Cemetery

Now don't worry, I'm not being morbid but it is always good to have a plan! Mr Poachie and I thought it would be a good Autumn date. I love visiting London in the Autumn and this was our first trip into the city since early March I think a week or a few days before lockdown. I think the city felt quieter which was nice and other than getting a clammy face on the train wearing a mask the whole time it was fine.

I have wanted to visit Highgate cemetery for many years. I think it is fascinating and now I have been I want to go back and do a tour as we didn't leave ourselves enough time and I have sooooo many questions! Like how many bodies have been buried here? Where is the oldest grave? Have their been any reports of unusual goings on? Has anyone heard the chopsticks being played on this piano?

There were so many graves, almost on top of each other and where the tree roots have lifted a lot of them were wonky, like the bodies were trying to escape. The graves were covered in ferns and ivy it looks like a cross between Jurassic Park and zombieland.

Tickets were £10pp and this gets you entrance to both the East and West cemetery. The west was my favourite, it looked older and creepier which made for better photos. The east cemetery was bright spacious and airy but it is also where Karl Marx is buried. 

You will have to ignore how blonde my hair is in these photo's, I had to bleach it again as my roots were so long and it went a mixture of white, yellow and purple so I have been using a lot of silver shampoo to try and blend the colours but it is out of control.

Like I mentioned before, we didn't leave ourselves enough time I think we had about an hour and that felt rushed. I know I like to take a lot of photo's but even if you wanted to stroll at your own pace and look/read the gravestones it just wasn't long enough so my advice would be to allow a morning/afternoon.

This was the Karl Marx tombstone which is located in the East cemetery. 

Did you used to watch 'Tales from the crypt' when you were younger? I used to love that show. 

I find graveyards and cemeteries very peaceful places although I am not sure I would want to be here at night. It really felt like a film set or something. Isn't England so cool to have places like this filled with history?

Some of the wording on the gravestones was a bit tongue in cheek, one said the ladies name and that she was a lawyer and then 'should have been a marine biologer' which made us chuckle.

I want to know when they will run out of space, which is the most expensive gravesite, the youngest and the oldest! What was the most unusual request for a gravestone? Are you allowed to do what you want if you have the cash? Has it been used for any films or TV shows?

After we left here we had a super duper lunch at 50 Cheyne in Chelsea and then headed home. I find London exhausting and expensive but it was fun to come up to the city and do something different! I hope you all had a lovely weekend.