What I couldn't know was that, because of a faulty aperture, none of the photographs I took inside those two great churches would come out.

So, oblivious to impending disappointment, we chatted carelessly, and missed the roadsign.

The first time we realised how close to the Cambridgeshire border we had come was seeing the pretty, elegant tower of All Saints ahead of us.

The light flint of the Cambridgeshire border, and that sanctus bell turret.

This village seems to have been reasonably prosperous at all periods; the photograph above shows the late 13th Century Decorated chancel, and the late 15th century clerestory and aisle. There are earlier lancets on the north side. But the big deal, as you may have noticed, is that All Saints retains a sanctus bell turret, used to suspend the bell that rings out at the consecration of the Mass. The bell still exists, but is in Moyse Hall Museum in Bury.

In those days, there was no keyholder, so I mised the rood beam, one of Suffolk's best. But the pictures inside would not have come out anyway.

The thrill of Mildenhall and Lakenheath is the extent to which evidence of the medieval life and liturgy of the church has survived. And I would have no record of it. But this was not a wasted journey; for there was the sanctus bell turret, the saving remnant.

September 2003: I didn't come back this way for another three and a half years. When I did, it was the day of the Historic Churches bike ride. I remember liking the inside of Worlington a lot, although this may be coloured by the fact that I spent the rest of the afternoon dodging the traffic in and around Mildenhall.

Well, I saw the rood beam at last, and a splash of Elizabethan wall painting beside the chancel arch (presumably intended to decorate an improving text designed to turn the people's heads away from Catholicism), and a parliamentary clock that made sure Worlington kept pace with London, and, on a 14th century arcade, some 12th century 'Crusader' graffiti. I also liked very much the coloured glass in the top of the west window. It shows roses and thistles. Click on the thumbnails below to see them enlarged.

All Saints, Worlington, is on the B1102 Mildenhall to Cambridge road. There's a keyholder these days.