Merriden House Funerals · Fairview · Since 1962
Three generations of one family have answered this phone since 1962 — with steady hands, plain prices, and no pressure to decide anything tonight.
01
We'll ask a few gentle questions — their name, where they are, your name — and tell you exactly what happens next.
02
Home, hospital or care facility: we come the same night, usually within 90 minutes, and bring the person who has died into our care.
03
Paperwork, notices, decisions — none of it is tonight's job. We'll sit down together tomorrow, at your pace, with tea.
Three complete ways to hold a funeral, each with one figure and a full list of what that figure buys. No packages hiding fees inside fees — that isn't how this house works.
$1,795
One figure, complete
For families who want the simplest path — no service with us, every practical thing handled completely.
$3,950
One figure, complete
A full farewell in our chapel, then cremation — the shape most Fairview families choose.
$6,850
One figure, complete
The traditional order: a private goodbye, a service, and a burial — held entirely in our care.
Not included in any figure: the cemetery's own interment fee, monuments, newspaper notices, and flowers beyond our standard arrangement. Those costs are shown to you in writing before you decide anything, and our full General Price List is yours the moment you ask — no name, no number required.
For honest comparison: the national median cost of a funeral with viewing and burial runs around $8,300. Ours is $6,850 — same timber, same care, no packaging tricks.
A funeral should cost what it costs — not what a stranger decides your grief is worth.
Ruth Merriden · third-generation funeral director
Dad died at ten past two in the morning and David answered on the third ring. He was at the house by three, and he called Dad by his first name the whole time. I will never forget that.
Ruth sat with us for two hours and never once looked at the clock. The figure she quoted at that table was the figure on the invoice — to the dollar.
Ellen printed the order of service twice because she thought Mum's name deserved the heavier paper. Nobody would ever have known. That's the kind of house this is.
Merriden House has stood behind the same clipped hedges since before most of Fairview was built — a 1920s brick house with a 90-seat chapel, two viewing rooms, and an arrangement room where the tea is poured before the papers come out.
Every room is yours to see. Come any afternoon, with no appointment and no obligation — the kettle is generally on.
Half the calls we take are from people planning for themselves — clear-eyed, unhurried, often over a second cup of tea. Record your wishes with us, hold today's price in writing, and hand your family one number to call.
Margaret “Peg” Aldous
1938 – 2026
Service held in our chapel, March 14
Frank Delaney
1947 – 2026
Graveside, Fairview Lawn, February 2
Rosa Imrie
1931 – 2025
Service held in our chapel, December 19
Notices appear here with each family's blessing, usually within a day of the service being set, and stay for as long as the family wants them kept.
Tonight, tomorrow, or a year from now — the number doesn't change and neither do we. And if it's easier to write first, write.
41 Chapel Green Road, Fairview · Office 8:30am–5pm Mon–Sat · phone answered day and night