|PIC1|The Church of England has launched a new web service for people taking a 'staycation' - holidaying from home instead of going away - during the recession.

Staycations offer the opportunity to discover everything a local area has to offer, with cathedrals and local churches often at its centre, says the Church of England in its new dedicated website section.

Experts expect 'staycations' to be the trend as families who cancel or cut back their holiday plans opt to stay at home during their summer break.

In July, a survey reported that a third of the public said that they were switching their plans from a holiday abroad to a holiday in Britain.

The Church of England recommends local churches and cathedrals as a great place to relax and ‘switch off’, given that so many of the Church of England’s 16,000 parish churches are not just living, active sacred spaces but also museums, art galleries and events venues all rolled into one.

On the website pages, staycationers can plan their ‘praycation’ by browsing a wide selection of holiday-at-home suggestions, and 10 websites are recommended so visitors can find their local church and cathedral to make the most of their staycation.

Janet Gough, Director of the Archbishops’ Council’s Cathedral and Church Buildings Division, says churches “matter to people even if they are not religious” in a podcast available at the new section.

She notes the number of times village churches appear on signs for villages, adding: "So many of them are beautiful and contain beautiful artefacts."

Over the next month the pages at www.cofe.anglican.org/staycations will be developed with further ideas and suggestions.