The Diocese of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich has partnered with Suffolk County Council for a new series of country walks taking visitors past some of the area's finest churches.

The trails have been introduced in the hopes of promoting tourism in the county and encouraging people to visit its lesser known parts.

The diocese is home to more than 450 medieval and historic churches, including 234 Grade I and 183 Grade II listed buildings.

The new trails are part of the Heritage lottery-funded Angels and Pinnacles churches community project covering clusters of churches around Southwold, Framlingham, Woolpit and Eye.

Visitors can enjoy walks to Walberswick and its lofty Blythburgh "Cathedral of the marches", to ancient Hoxne, with its links to St Edmund, and Eye church with its soaring "Wonder of Suffolk" tower.

The trails are suitable for walking or cycling, and leaflets have been produced with information about the churches along each route.

There are also fascinating snippets of local knowledge. One leaflet tells of Devil Lane and the ghost of a highwayman named Blue-nosed Fisk, just some of the inventions of local mothers to stop their children straying into the wilds of Darsham.

"I'm sure everyone using the new guides will enjoy a fascinating day out," said Marion Welham, Church buildings and Tourism Officer for the diocese.

"Suffolk has some of the finest medieval churches in Europe but unlike so many countries, ours are cared for by volunteers.

"The Angels and Pinnacles Churches are open for you to enjoy at any time during the daylight hours and each one is an architectural masterpiece."