On a fine, clear day it is a lovely thing to get up onto any ridge above our beautiful Wylye Valley and gaze out over the lush countryside.   I am always surprised how little one can see of the villages that are largely hidden by trees and the undulations of the landscape.  However, the structures that always stand proud are the towers, steeples, spires and pinnacles of our parish churches.  They remain, even today, the tallest buildings in most villages, just as they were when first built all those centuries ago.

By my reckoning, if you set off on your bike from, say, Sutton Veny and cycled down the valley (along what we call the ‘bottom road’), you would (with a few slight diversions) be able to visit at least 20 churches and chapels between your starting point and Wilton.  A few of these churches are now redundant and looked after by a church conservation trust and one are two are ruinous but, in every sense, all of them are ‘open’ – or certainly will be on Saturday 13^th September.

Ride & Stride, an annual nation-wide sponsored bike ride with the theme of raising much-needed funds for our ancient churches, has now been going for over 40 years.  This is a great opportunity to get some exercise, visit some glorious old churches, learn more about the history of your local area, and raise money for maintaining the fabric of these precious buildings. Your sponsored efforts also raise cash for the church in your own village.

On the day, the mode of transport can be pretty well anything – it is the number of churches you visit that is being sponsored. So, horse, bike, tandem, on foot or, I imagine, car is acceptable – although it might be difficult to get sympathetic sponsors for that last one.  One marvellous fund-raiser in the Upper Wylye Valley last year did Ride & Stride on his mobility scooter.

For sponsorship forms and further details about Ride & Stride 2025, please contact the local parish organiser for your village/parish church (see below)

OR Charlotte Mozley on ckmozley@btinternet.com