A ROOM WITH A PEW

Patrick Barkham goes ‘champing’ – camping in a church – and discovers a new appreciation for religious buildings

SOUTH

St Mary the Virgin, Fordwich, Kent – a resting place for weary pilgrims just three miles from Canterbury

All Saints, Langport, Somerset – impressive church with beautiful tower overlooking the pretty town

MIDLANDS AND EAST

St Andrew’s, Wroxeter, Shropshire – church in the heart of Roman England

St Cyriac & St Julitta, Swaffham Prior – pretty Cambridgeshire village church (below) overlooking the Fens

St Katherine’s, Chiselhampton – Georgian church six miles south-east of Oxford

St Michael & All Angels, Booton – Gothic splendour in rural Norfolk

All Saints, Aldwincle, Northamptonshire – the first church to be opened for champing

All Saints, Billesley, Warwickshire – reputed to be the church where William Shakespeare pledged his troth to Anne Hathaway

NORTH AND SCOTLAND

St Mary’s, Longsleddale, Cumbria – scenic Lake District church offered by the Churches Trust for Cumbria

St Peter, Mainland, Orkney – rugged position overlooking the Bay of Skaill

St Thomas, Friarmere, Lancashire – high above the town of Delph beside Saddleworth Moor

Old St Stephen’s, Fylingdales, North Yorkshire – atmospheric clifftop church on the North York Moors with views across Robin Hood’s Bay