St Peter's Church, Great Totham

The church sits quietly in Great Totham, a village just inland from Maldon, and it's worth a detour if you're staying at any of the nearby parks like Steeple Bay or Mill Beach. St Peter's is a proper medieval building - the kind of place where you can actually feel the centuries, rather than just read about them on a plaque.

Inside, there's some lovely original stonework and the sort of peaceful atmosphere you only get in old parish churches that haven't been mucked about with too much. The chancel's worth a look if you know what you're spotting for - decent medieval features without being showy about it. It's not going to keep you for hours, but if you're walking the Essex countryside or taking a break from caravan life, it makes sense to spend twenty minutes here.

The village itself is small and unremarkable, which is rather the point. No gift shop, no tea room, no crowds of tourists - just the church doing what it's done for around 800 years. Best approached as part of a longer wander through this corner of Essex rather than as a destination in itself. Free to enter, obviously, and there's usually someone about if you need the door unlocking. Parking is tight, so come early or expect a bit of street shuffling. It works well if you're based at Osea Leisure or one of the other holiday parks - gives you something proper to do instead of just sitting by a swimming pool.