I don’t know where or when my love for cemeteries came from, but I love exploring them. I find them such peaceful and tranquil places.

I remember as a teenager, growing up in a village where there wasn’t much to do, I often found myself hanging around the village church – watching weddings come out or wandering around the church graveyard.

London has some stunning cemeteries. The magnificent seven are probably some of the most well known. Last year we finally ticked the last one off our list. They truly are all magnificent in very different ways. Highgate may be the one that probably draws in the most tourists, but West Norwood was the one that surprised me the most. There are also plenty of other smaller cemeteries that are worth exploring.

When we are on holiday we also try and check out a cemetery or two. In Lisbon I managed to combine two of my favourite interests in one go when we discovered the city’s famous tram line (which started outside our hotel) terminated at the city’s main cemetery.

Just outside of London in Surrey is the UK largest cemetery – Brookwood Cemetery. It opened in the mid-1800s to cope with the overflow from London. The Necropolis Railway opened to carry passengers and coffins to the cemetery from next to Waterloo station in central London.

After talking about it for a while, today we finally ventured out to explore the cemetery. Within 50 minutes of leaving Waterloo station we were in the cemetery, thanks to there being an exit from the station directly in the cemetery.

It was a perfect day weather wise as we spent three hours exploring some of the 220 acres. Like other cemeteries there were different plots that had very different atmospheres. Most of the time it felt like we had the place to ourselves. It was the perfect break from the city on a bank holiday weekend.

Sadly we didn’t manage to find the piece of the Necropolis Railway that has been retained, but that just gives us an excuse to go back to explore some more.

I’ve shared the photos I took today here. I’m planning on sharing photos from the magnificent seven and other cemeteries we’ve explored over the years, but that’s part of my ongoing effort to sort through my photography archive.