St Peter & St Paul

The church stands on the high street in Chippenham with the sort of solid, unshowy presence that makes you wonder why you haven't noticed it before. St Peter & St Paul is a proper medieval parish church - all buttresses and pointed windows - that has been quietly doing its job for centuries without making much fuss about it.

Inside, it's the usual good stuff: ornate roof carvings, Victorian stained glass that actually catches the light properly, and tombs of people who clearly thought themselves important enough to be remembered in stone. The chancel's worth a proper look if you're interested in that sort of detail. Most visitors spend twenty minutes wandering about, reading the plaques, maybe sitting in a pew if the mood takes them.

This is one for the architecture enthusiasts and anyone who likes getting a real sense of a market town's history without the tourist infrastructure. Families passing through won't find much to keep the kids engaged for long - it's quiet and there's not a lot of interactive stuff - but it's free and accessible, which counts for something.

If you're based at Burton Hill Caravan & Camping Park or any of the other sites dotted around Malmesbury way, Chippenham's close enough for a morning poke about. The town itself has decent shops and cafes, so you can make a proper half-day of it rather than just ducking into the church for five minutes. Go mid-morning when the light's best and before the lunch crowd arrives.