St. Andrew's Church, Greensted, Ongar

St. Andrew's Church, Greensted, Onger is the "oldest wooden church in the world". Packed full of atmosphere, serenity and calm it is a wonderful place to visit where you feel the history seep from the walls. In a beautiful setting too made all the better by the late afternoon sun and blue skies. We couldn't have wished for a more inspirational half hour.

The church website gives far more information about the history of this special place. Suffice to say that the body of a Crusader is said to be buried near the church and the walls have been dated to early Saxon.

Back to the modern world, the shot was taken from the favoured place in the churchyard and I used the HDR function on the iPhone to make the best of the contrasts between light and dark shade. The function certainly makes a difference if you compare HDR with the non-HDR equivalent.

We visited the church with friends Al and Liz whom we went to see today. They live in Waltham Abbey which itself is full of history. On this journey we also went to a farm shop near Chelmsford to buy some stuff but also to taste some apples grown locally. The drive back was through some pretty impressive countryside which Essex has in abundance but is not always known for.

And off to dinner - a superb meal of pigs' cheeks, yes, pigs' cheeks. They were excellent, rather like beef when slow cooked, tender and falling apart. We'd had them there before sometime ago and were treated to them again. Since the first time I've tried to buy them but to no avail. A lovely day with good friends.