The tiny 12th-century Church of St Mary at Oare sits in a meadow above the East Lyn River, surrounded by ancient yews and sheep-grazed turf. It holds perhaps eighty people. Were it not for R. D. Blackmore's novel Lorna Doone, published in 1869, almost no one outside the parish would know it existed.
Blackmore used this church as the setting for the novel's dramatic climax. Today it is the most visited building in an otherwise roadless part of Exmoor — a strange kind of literary pilgrimage. The interior is simple: white-washed walls, box pews, a small gallery. The windows are clear glass, and the view of the moorland outside is better than any stained glass could be.