Down the End of the Road You'll Picnic in Paradise ; Main Feature This Sunday People Will Come From All Over the World for a Picnic Near an Abandoned Church in a Place Known As Paradise. Judie Kellie Finds Out Why.

Summary

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I remember clearly the day I first saw the tiny church of Old Saint Bartholomew, in Lower Sapey. It was in the mid-eighties, and we were looking for Church Farm, which was for sale at the time.

As we descended deeper and deeper into the lush and remote countryside, known locally as "paradise", nothing had prepared us for the revelation of a clutch of ancient buildings, nestling, as they had done for centuries before, in the greenness at the 'end of the road'.

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Down the End of the Road You'll Picnic in Paradise ; Main Feature This Sunday People Will Come From All Over the World for a Picnic Near an Abandoned Church in a Place Known As Paradise. Judie Kellie Finds Out Why.

The half-timbered Church Farm, its granary, outbuildings, mill pool, and the exquisite little church of Old St Bartholomew, were hidden deep in an ecclesiastical oasis.

The fragile black and white farmhouse, resembled a pencil sketch, with decrepitude and neglect offering the detail. It was said to be 17th century but is, in fact, much older, tottering precariously over a stream, the bank so steep that the cellar windows looked into the tree canopy.

As for the tiny church, it was roofless, wi...

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