EXPLORE the history of a village graveyard.

To mark Love Your Burial Ground Week, which runs from Monday to Friday, All Saints' Church in Thelwall will open from 10am until 4pm.

There will be volunteer guided tours of the church and the old burial ground, where visitors can explore their own family history, as well as the newly designated Commonwealth Graves.

This is also an opportunity to see the Shrigley and Hunt mural in the church, and the Victorian stained glass windows before major conservation work begins early next month.

The work has been made possible thanks to the grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and many other smaller donations.

Thelwall is a small village with a long and interesting history to share – from manorial chapel to parish church – with evidence visible in the landscape of who and what went before.

Thelwall Infants and Junior Schools will be using the church and burial ground as an educational resource for history, geography and science projects.

As part of this initiative some areas of the churchyard have been left to grow wild, preserving habitat and heritage, and the church PCC will be consulting with visitors to family graves about this experiment in maintaining the old burial ground.

Entrance is free throughout the week and refreshments will be available.