It is sad, but such is Life. Families die out (forgive the pun).
The same notices have been there for at least 25 years (to my knowledge) and those graves are little more than mounds with perhaps a broken cross/simple marker but no “headstone” or means of identifying.
The Mairie now does have a map of who is where, but there are still gaps in the knowledge.
Our cemetary is only 120 m long with the first graves so ancient that their dates can’t be read, and Fran is just before the empty zone of about 20 m. The next but one line back from Fran, about 10 m, contains our great friend Roger who died in 1997, so it will be very many years before they even reach the end wall, especially as I am already earmarked alongside her and therefore will take up no extra room. Beyond the end wall is a large field so I am comfortable that we won’t be disturbed before some nutter blows up the world. 
No, pollution, and global warming. 
Burying is eco friendly.
As the Yorkshire anthem says ‘…worms will come and eat thee up’.
Very good for crops as the worms spread out from the cemetary and procreate, before ‘ducks will come and eat up worms’ and ‘we will come and eat up ducks’, and ‘then we shall all have etten thee’
I have a different last line " Then us’ll all ha’ etten thee
That’s wheear we get us ooan back " Only in Yorkshire !
My Australian nephew once had a business called “Ecomulch”, mulching wood and other stuff, I think. My sister suggested he offer it to people as an ecological alternative to burial.
There’s always Soylent Green!
Yes, indeed, but I made it a little more understandable for those of us originating from t’other side of t’Pennines. 
There are current carryings-on with experimenting with “mulching down” bodies after death from chemical baths to special soils, all designed to break down the remains and leave as little as possible. At least if you are a donor (OH was) you won’t wake up as some poor souls have done on their way to the incinerator where dodgy medical and funeral practices are rife in poor countries and no organ donations done.
Our cemetery can’t be that old… 200+ years
Previously it was within the church boundaries but (I think) the Revolution changed things…
We have some very old graveslabs in the grass behind the church, no markings/writings just large slabs of granite used as makeshift benches nowadays.
My dad is buried in an eco graveyard somewhere near Alcester, Warwickshire. After the body, in a cardboard coffin, has rotted down for 6 months they plant a tree and put a stepping stone style marker. He wasn’t particularly green, I think he just loved the idea, and the fact he could look over a lovely old brewery from his chosen plot! 
. No idea how much it cost.
Our current cemetery lies several hundred yards outside the village and only dates from the early C20th. It was the nearest fairly flat bit of land and previously would have been part of a large forest. However, the village is about nine centuries old and the original cemetery was high above the village, just beyond the ruined chateau in the engraving below…
The accompanying 1871 article describes how the villagers had recently had a problem with ‘the dead starting to fall out of the sky’ and were applying to create a new cemetery. Today all that remains of the old cemetery are a few cast iron, or wrought iron crosses, possibly some as yet unfallen bones, a few clumps of non-indigenous plants and a large grove of mature bamboo (which is very useful in the garden).
Buried my Mom this summer. Total cost from collecting at hospital to cremation, urn, burial plot 4700Euro. Gravemarker 40x40cm flat piece of Granite 1000Euro.
She will have 25years before the plot will be reused.
I am hoping for a much less pricey option in France… but probably Not.
Burial would be eco friendly if people were not embalmed and buried in a simple wooden casket. Sadly, neither is the case for almost anyone buried today. So the worms are not likely to benefit.
I’ve told my wife to toss me on the compost heap. Or drag me into our woods and cover me up. Or not.
Did she ask if she has to wait until you’re dead?
From experience in recent years, one can ask the PFunebres not to embalm etc. Unless one is proposing people can “view” the corpse before the funeral/whatever, the makeup, embalming, whatever, really isn’t necessary and it keeps the price down.
and one needs to be firm about which casket to choose.
Thats why they give you five working days in France to hold the funeral and burial/cremation. After that embalming is deemed to be offered and very expensive, hency why the last goodbye is held so quickly for the family not to have to pay more.
Obviously, areas may well differ… but around here it is taken for granted that one has the Full Package and (on occasion) I’ve had to be quite firm saying No Thanks.
Folk just need to be aware that, at such a sad time, one needs to understand what is on offer and what each aspect costs.
Pretty sure Fran wasn’t embalmed, what would be the point, died on Sunday, buried on Friday, but I did give very strict instructions. Absolutely no makeup at all, only allowed to brush her long hair, and to put on her the little yellow mini dress we bought on a summer’s day for a pound out of the Coop before going to Nottingham Races. On the way back she proudly paraded it before her Mum, the very image of Grandma Giles (if anyone remembers the Daily Express cartoonist), who grumpily said ‘you should wear an underskirt, I can see right through it.’
The coffin was the cheapest wooden one although it did have brass handles which I doubt will worry the worms at all, so I am confident in our green credentials. 
Has anyone had experience of taking ashes back to the UK for burial there?
A friend’s Dad came to visit and (sadly) died while he was still here in France.
We arranged a simple cremation and I was nominated to collect the urn once the fire had cooled
For her to take the ashes back to UK, there were forms to complete etc and this was done at our Mairie (they were wonderfully supportive).
This was a few years ago, so I reckon someone might have up to date info.
Although of no use to me, someone once said that if the ashes are taken by road each commune that they pass through must be informed.
Well, I can’t recall all the in’s and out’s, but it was the Mairie who authorised me to collect the urn, so whatever needed doing would have been done by them. 
