Though many of us may have dozed off in them, church pews have not earned the best of reputations for providing a good night’s sleep.
But now there’s a chance to bed down properly in a place of worship, thanks to a new project by the Churches Conservation Trust that lets visitors “camp” inside some of England’s historic country churches.
After a successful pilot scheme last year, the trust has announced the expansion of its “champing” breaks (that’ll be churches + camping!), with three churches available for travellers seeking sanctuary on a rural escape.
Guests get the entire church to themselves and can enjoy a night by candlelight on a bed set up in a tranquil Grade I- or II-listed building. Activities including walks, yoga or storytelling can also be arranged to accompany the stay.
The three churches currently available to stay in are All Saints’ Church in Northamptonshire, full of medieval limestone arches, the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Kent, with 17th-century fittings and a shrine to a saint, and the Church of St Cyriac and St Julitta in Cambridgeshire, which features a 15th-century bell tower with (perhaps) potential as an alarm clock. The churches are no longer in regular use, so there is no pressure to leave early on a Sunday morning. Stays cost £65 per person a night (or £45pp if you book before 1 June), including breakfast, delivered in the morning by a local.
According to the Churches Conservation Trust bookings are already being made. If the concept continues to prove popular it could be expanded to include more locations in 2016.
Peter Aiers, director of the Churches Conservation Trust in the south east, said: “It’s great to be able to give guests the opportunity to be the key holder of one of our churches for a weekend, so they can not only enjoy the interior beauty of these buildings, but also head out and enjoy the natural beauty of rural England in the same way our ancestors would have, travelling on foot, dining at the local pub and soaking up the sights and sounds of the country.”
