Lower Sapey: St Bartholomew's Chapel

It is very simple in form. The wonderful oak porch is weathered to a beautiful silver-grey and is covered by a great tangle of honeysuckle in summer. This leads to a splendid door set within a fine Norman doorway. What you can't tell from any photographs is the wonderful atmosphere of this special place.

Inside, the church has a pleasing simplicity - a floor made of clay and gravel, a little west gallery where musicians would have played, and plain plastered walls that bear traces of wall paintings from many centuries - you can just make out part of a lion, from a seventeenth-century royal coat of arms. Other fragments date from the Middle Ages. Most of the fittings were transferred when a new parish church was built in Victorian times. St Bartholomew's was neglected for more than a century after this, and was even used as a farm building! Only in the last 20 years, thanks to efforts of local people, has it been rescued from oblivion.

Parking is limited, so this is best approached on foot and is a wonderful destination for a countryside walk.

The church is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust and looked after by volunteers.