St Mary the Virgin, Lindsell

The church sits quietly at the heart of Lindsell village, a modest Essex settlement east of Dunmow. St Mary the Virgin is a proper medieval affair - the kind of place where you half expect to find someone doing brass rubbings on a Tuesday afternoon.

Inside, there's a decent amount to absorb if you're into church architecture. Medieval nave, some solid stonework, and the sort of peaceful atmosphere that makes you actually want to sit down for five minutes rather than just snap a photo and leave. The real appeal here isn't flashy stonework or famous monuments - it's the sense that this building has simply been getting on with things for centuries while the world changed around it.

It's worth a detour if you're walking in the area or staying at Hidden Gem Glamping nearby, which sits just under six miles away. Not a destination in itself, mind you. You won't find guided tours or visitor facilities. This is more of a "we happened to be passing through Lindsell and popped in" kind of stop. The type of place that rewards the curious rather than the rushed.

Go when it's actually open - details are thin on the ground online, so it's worth checking locally before making the journey. Twenty minutes is plenty of time. Families with restless kids might find it a bit quiet for their liking, but walkers and anyone interested in how English villages maintain their history will find it worthwhile.