Hunstanworth Parish Church

The approach to Hunstanworth is half the draw. You're driving through proper Pennine country - rolling moorland, stone walls, that particular shade of green you only get in the North East. The church itself sits in isolation, which is rather the point. It's a modest 12th-century affair, rough-hewn and serious, the kind of building that makes you understand why people bothered with churches out here at all.

Inside, there's a wonderfully unrestored quality to it. Victorian sensibilities haven't had their way with everything, and you get a genuine sense of how these spaces functioned - austere, practical, a bit cold even. The chancel ceiling is decorated with lead painting work from the 1600s, which is genuinely striking when you notice it. Walk round the churchyard too. The graves tell stories of moorland farming families going back centuries, and the views out across the Dales are exactly what you came for.

Really suited to walkers and local history types rather than families looking for interactive exhibits. Allow 45 minutes if you're lingering. It's free, naturally, and open most daylight hours - though getting inside might require asking locally. From Hexham, it's a decent drive but worth it if you're based at Village Green or Springhouse holiday parks nearby. The landscape around here is the real attraction; the church is the full stop at the end of a proper moorland walk.