St. Peter's Church, Astwood

The church sits quietly on the edge of Astwood village, a few miles south of Olney, with the sort of understated presence that makes you wonder how you've driven past it a hundred times without really seeing it. St. Peter's is a proper medieval affair - the kind of place where you can actually feel the centuries pressing down through the stonework.

Inside, the real draw is the late medieval wall paintings. They're not pristine - far from it - but there's something compelling about making out the figures and scenes through the centuries of dirt and damage. You get a genuine sense of what parish churches meant to ordinary people five hundred years ago, before they were whitewashed over during the Reformation. The chancel roof is worth a look too, with decent carved bosses that suggest someone cared enough to do the job properly.

It's free to visit, and you won't need long - twenty minutes to half an hour if you're genuinely interested in the paintings, less if you're just passing through. The building itself is small and intimate rather than grand. Families with young kids might struggle to hold their attention for that long, but anyone with even a passing interest in medieval church art will find it worthwhile.

Combine this with a stay at Ekeney House Campsite just three miles away, and you've got a solid afternoon exploring the quieter corners of Buckinghamshire. The Olney area has plenty of other walks and small villages worth pottering around - this is proper countryside, not the theme-park version.