Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund and the efforts of many local long term volunteers, a sensitive restoration program is well under-way.

Whilst the conservation management priority is to provide access to visitors of graves and the listed monuments, the cemetery is also being managed as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI).  The landscape management plan focuses on conserving the existing grassland and woodland habitats and improving their quality to benefit wildlife.  The woodland is being managed through selective thinning; to improve the canopy structure and encourage biodiversity.

Birdsong fills the air in Spring as returning warblers prepare to nest alongside resident woodpeckers, thrushes and finches.  Rare visitors like firecrest and woodcock find shelter in the Winter and unusual migrants such as pied flycatchers and redstarts stop off to refuel on their long journeys in Spring and Autumn.  Slow-worms like the long grass, lichens decorate the tombstones and, at night, bats feed over the trees whilst badgers and foxes forage below.

Primroses carpet the paths in late winter while other wild flowers, many persisting from the meadows that pre-date the cemetery such as burnet saxifrage, field scabious and ladies bedstraw, grow amongst the old tombstones in Summer and provide food for all sorts of butterflies such as marbled white and ringlet.

As well as many fine native trees, several magnificent exotic trees and shrubs survive from the original Victorian planting.

Over the years many people have visited Arnos Vale and are astounded at the beauty held within the cemetery.  At different times of the day, during the different seasons and in all weather conditions there is a different side of Arnos Vale to be seen.  Many visitors, staff, volunteers and members from the local community can be found with cameras in hand taking scenic and abstract photographs around the cemetery.  A selection of these photographs can be found in our Wildlife Gallery.

If you have any photographs of Arnos Vale that you would like to be shown on this site then please contact Sarah Cox on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and your photographs can be uploaded to the website.