I don’t remember how I first heard about champing, but I was immediately intrigued by the notion of “camping” in a church in the English countryside. A little internet research at the time unveiled a charity program that raises money for the conservation of historic churches by charging money to sleep in them – a very unique alternative to Airbnb. But that was a few of years ago, and covid pushed the idea to the back of my head for a while, until the recent opportunity of visiting my daughter going to graduate school in London put the option firmly back on the table.
There is an association of 20 churches in the champing network, and I set about trying to identify a couple that are close enough together to combine champing with walking. Among our many walking/hiking adventures, a few years ago we spent five days walking between villages in Scotland, and I wanted to try to keep this family walking tradition alive. I quickly identified a couple of walking opportunities, and chose the one in Essex because of the proximity to London, where our adventure would start.
After a leisurely breakfast in London, we negotiated the train to Stansted Mountfitchet and arrived in the early afternoon. I had originally intended to take a taxi to the nearby village of Berden, where we had a champing reservation at the St. Nicholas Church, and walk back the next day, but the weather was nice and we had the time, so we just started walking. I had mapped a walking trail route on a phone app, and once we found the initial trail at the edge of town, it was mostly easy to follow the paths through blossoming meadows, occasionally crossing rural roads or passing by houses. Some of the restored cottages had thatched roofs straight out of Architectural Digest. The farther we got from Stansted the narrower the trail became, sometimes through grass and nettles, but there were always signposts with arrows pointing the way whenever we were in doubt.
After a little more than six miles of pleasant walking, we arrived at St. Nicholas well before dinner. My feet were tired, but no more so than the three days of walking around London that I had just completed. The church is classically beautiful and surrounded by a cemetery. The check-in instructions told us where to find the giant key, and I was pretty excited to unlock the heavy wooden door. The church dates back to the 12th century and had a major restoration in the mid-1800s. It is still active and has the traditional austerity of a small rural church. At the front, however, we are greeted by a couple of cots with sleeping bags and pillows. There are flameless candles and strings of twinkling lights, as well as camp chairs, plastic wine glasses, and a box of assorted board games (we opted for backgammon). St. Nicholas is unlike many of the champing churches in that it has running water, a refrigerator, and a toilet. There is also a bat flying in the rafters!
Berden is a tiny village, without any provision of food. I knew this from the start and I had made a reservation at the pub in a nearby village for Sunday roast (if you don’t know, it’s a giant plate of food including roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, and veggies!). Getting to and from the pub posed a problem, however, because we didn’t want to walk back in the dark. Natalie, the champing warden for St Nicholas, who conveniently lives across the street from the church, kindly offered to come and pick us up after we finished our meal.
I was half expecting to have strange and wonderful dreams while sleeping in the church, but apart from what we think might have been some noisy owls just outside, it was an uneventful night. They had warned us that the churches were still quite chilly from the winter, but they also supplied hot-water bottles to keep the sleeping bags extra toasty. Waking up to the morning light coming through the windows was quite spectacular. We had packed some light provisions for breakfast and our return walk to Stansted (sausage rolls, British flapjacks, bananas, etc.), and we were a little sad to be leaving Berden so soon.
The return walk to Stansted seemed so much shorter than the day before, but the weather was again slightly overcast and perfect. We went straight to the pub to quench our thirst, and then on to Mountfitchet Castle, an open-air museum with a reconstructed medieval Norman village and petting zoo. Hokey, yes, but in a good way.
A 15-minute walk out the other side of town is St. Mary the Virgin’s Church, for our champing night #2. Also dating from the 12th century, this church is much larger than St Nicholas but it is classified as redundant, meaning that it is not typically active as a church but provides other community functions (like champing). We are welcomed by similar candles and light strings, cots and sleeping bags, and potentially more opportunities for ghosts (see photos). We venture back to the pub for dinner (most local restaurants are closed on Mondays), and bring back a bottle of wine to enjoy with the church lights. In the morning, the church warden for St. Mary’s, Lynda, tells us a little about the history. There must be so many stories that come with a place like this.
Again, the night and morning pass all too quickly, and it isn’t long before we pass through the bakery in town on the way to the train back to London. We will definitely do this again the next time we’re on the loose in England!
