Launch of Britain’s Sanctuary Network

We are excited to announce the launch of Britain’s Sanctuary Network, an AirBnB-style app functionality attached to the pilgrimage routes on our website that promotes low-cost accommodation options in churches, church halls, village halls and, in the future, barns and bothies. Currently, there are three routes in Britain served by Sanctuaries – Old Way to Canterbury; Golden Valley Pilgrim Way; and Cornish Celtic Way.

The average price per night per pilgrim for a Sanctuary is £10, which makes multi-day pilgrimages accessible to society at large. It also provides much-needed revenue to churches and shared community buildings like village halls (they get 100% of the revenue, we take no commission).

Some people might initially equate Sanctuary with ‘Champing’, which is organised by the Churches Conservation Trust.

‘Sanctuary‘ venues are modelled on a traveller or pilgrim ‘hostel’ (e.g. ‘albergues’ or ‘donativos’ on the Camino) – they are low-cost with all travellers on a path sleeping in the same place, whether or not they know each other.
’Champing’ is more like a church hotel or glamping which you can book out and reserve for yourself and your family and friend group.
Both accommodation models have their place, and we look forward to seeing them grow alongside each other.

Our routes are labelled with the tag ‘Sanctuary’ on our website’s homepage map.

Become a Friend of the BPT (£24 a year) to access the Sanctuary information. This helps support our work and, from Sanctuary’s perspective, it also has the extra benefit of making sure local community providers are dealing with serious requests.

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