Sensitive......buying a gravestone

We're just about to buy one for my Dad who died 2 years ago. I contacted the local council who look after the cemetery and they said to just get in touch with a stonemason or similar and they would do everything else including getting the permissions etc. Some cemeteries charge to have them erected and some don't, it seems to depend on the council. The other thing they told me was that you need permission from the person who "owns" the plot, in my instance my Mum as she paid for it. I think you can ask to have the deeds transferred to you but my advice would be to ring the council as your first port of call, they should be able to advise you.

Good luck. x

P.S. I meant to add that a standard gravestone seems be approx £600 as a ball park figure. I suppose it depends on whether you want a traditional sized one (couple of feet high?) or something smaller such as one of those concrete cube things that you can put flowers in etc. I popped in to a couple of memorian places and asked for a brochure and pricelist.

Thanks Serendipity, will give the council a call in the week

If you're in the Suffolk/Essex area, then I can't recommend a Stonemason called, John Hayes enough. He was brilliant (and reasonably priced too) allowing me to design the headstone for my Grandpa.......

(sorry if photo is massive)

Oh la la, that is lovely (not at all offensive)

I'm in the process of doing this exact thing for my FIL. If you phone the cemetrey they will give you all the information you need. I found out that we can't have a surround, just a headstone, the permit is £109 and really, you need to ring around or look on the internet for headstones and prices. They aren't cheap though. The cheapest I've seen is £500 depends on the marble and colour.

Good luck, it's lovely of you to do this xx