This is St Beuno's Church, Culbone, Somerset. The church is also England's smallest, and is lost in an undiscovered but gorgeous corner of Exmoor. It is a trek to get here - a mile and a half uphill through woods then downhill into a valley, but it is very much worth it! I was here in Spring 2002 and was enchanted by the whole place. I drank cold fresh water out of the stream which flows past the church and helped myself to coffee from the walkers' hut opposite (which trusts you to leave the money!) I once read an esoteric writer who claimed that the site was 'sanctified' by our distant ancestors, using forgotten techniques, at least 6000 years ago. Whether that is true or not, the place is a little sanctuary of beauty and holiness - I felt rejuvenated after my visit here.
	Here is a view from that long walk I mentioned above. At this point I had been thoroughly exhausted by the walk uphill, and was ecstatic here because I was on the road downhill and had finally caught sight of the church after doubting its existence (what a metaphor). What the photo can't convey is the loveliness of that Spring day: the birds singing, the sunshine glistening, the sensual babbling of the little stream below. It must be a real pleasure coming to church in such surroundings (the church still functions, and has no electricity, so late services are candlelit - which must add an extra magical quality to the proceedings). Take a little look at the chancel of St Beuno's here and note the screen which dates from Richard II's time, the 1380's. Back