Out & About July 2017

it in turns to have our say from the pulpit and discovering a stash of additional pillows, loo rolls and hot chocolate, we made up our beds for the night. It was unearthing the hot chocolate that relaxed daughter two, as she proudly produced it and told me: “I was a bit nervous at first mummy, but now I feel very welcome here.” Every champer is provided with a camp bed thankfully, as the solid stone floors didn’t look the most comfortable place to lay your head for the night. New this year, the local ChampBot as they are called (a friendly local helper to me and you) can provide a freshly-laundered pillow and incredibly warm sleeping bag for an additional £25 per person. Or you can just bring your own bedding, which is exactly what we did. Beds made up in a row down the aisle we donned our pyjamas, cracked open the wine for the adults, and sat playing Silly Sausage in the camping chairs that were set up around a small table on a wooden balcony looking down on to the pews. The CCT is vocal in its encouragement of wine consumption during your champ – you can even pre-order a bottle or two t– so who were we to disappoint?

There were a sprinkling of headstones surrounding the church, but no large graveyard, which did take the edge off the spookiness of the adventure. In all of the promotional literature, the champing team boasts how the sun shone every day that someone champed last year and the trend continued for us. It was around 6pm on a glorious spring day by now and we needed to collect the key from The Coach and Horses, a 16th-century pub just a few hundred metres along the country lane. We headed down there and sat in the garden to eat a delicious dinner, while the sun shone and our daughters zig-zagged their cartwheeling selves around the grass. With the huge and heavy key now acquired, it was time to head back to the church and although it was getting late, being May it was still light, which made things a little easier once we were inside the ancient building. Adding to the novelty value of our night away, you had to put the key into the large wooden door upside down to get in. That bit was comparatively easy – trying to work out which way to put the key in and turn it to lock the door from inside, however, took slightly longer. After a good explore, which included taking

There was no running water in the church, but there was a large water cooler, which daughters one and two sipped out of their plastic wine glasses. On the balcony, we discovered the church’s only light and a ladder into the clock tower. We also found out that the clock still worked, chiming every hour; albeit 10 minutes early. There were a number of battery-operated candles and wind up camping lamps too and these provided ambient light for family games. They also lit the way down to the vestry and its ChampLav. This is an eco-loo that requires no plumbing, water or sewage outlet, which is pretty perfect for a very old church in the middle of the countryside. Top tip – everyone has to sit down to spend a penny, even the men, otherwise things can get messy. Cooking is not allowed in the churches, although they are looking at the possibility of barbecues at some of the larger sites in the future, but snacks are permitted and we munched on cupcakes and crisps, trying not to leave too many crumbs for the church mice. As the sun slowly set behind the high stained glass windows and the girls started yawning, we headed back down the small, rickety wooden staircase, discussing who would 

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