Fairfield

As northern barbarians, we had never previously visited Canterbury, the cradle of The Church of England. Disdaining the car, we strolled to Rye Station and bought day return tickets. From Rye the railway track is as straight as a die carrying you across Romney Marsh towards Ashford.

Of course Romney Marsh and its neighbour - Walland Marsh haven't actually been marshes for eight hundred years. It is rich agricultural land and when farms were labour intensive, the area had a much larger population than it has today. I had read about the churches of Romney Marsh - how some of them remain standing even though the communities they once served have dwindled away. As the train beat out its rhythm towards Ashford and Canterbury beyond, I noticed an amazing church sitting all alone in wide sheep pastures. Returning from Canterbury we saw it again.

On the last full day of our holiday, after visiting the beautiful High Weald town of Tenterdon, I was determined to find that isolated church and photograph it. We drove around the little back roads of The Marsh until we came to the Railway Inn at Appledore Station where a visiting electrician with a pencil stub behind his ear supplied us with directions to "Fairfield".

Although the outer brick skin of the church is relatively modern (1913), it hides a medieval secret timber lath construction (13th Century). I hope my photos show you how special this building is. There's no roadway to it, not even a properly defined path. Sheep graze around it. Amazingly, Sunday services are still held in St Thomas a Beckett once a month.

A lifelong atheist, I have nevertheless always been fascinated by England's country churches. They speak to me of simpler times, when deluded folk believed that no matter what hardships one might face in this world, there was a better life beyond. Old churches are fascinating architecturally and they were of course theatres for generations of family events - funerals, weddings, christenings. Imbued in the very stones one can detect wordless historical records of ancient rural communities - time marching on. If the church is unlocked and there's a visitors' book, I always leave a positive comment and put a few coins in the box.

Like the English pub, our green countryside, our Literature and music, the English country church is a part of our heritage which should make us proud to live on this amazing island of dreams.