There is something rather remarkable about British pilgrimage. Across the country, paths that have connected churches, monasteries, shrines and sacred landscapes for centuries are being rediscovered by people who, in many cases, would never previously have considered themselves pilgrims.
Some are Christians seeking to deepen their faith. Others are drawn by history, the countryside or the prospect of spending several days walking with a little more purpose than simply reaching the next destination. For some, pilgrimage offers an opportunity to step away from the noise of modern life. For others, it is a way of discovering parts of Britain that have remained largely outside the usual tourist circuit.
The motivations differ, but the underlying attraction is similar: the journey matters as much as the destination.
The British Pilgrimage Trust has been at the centre of this revival. Its work mapping routes, promoting sacred places and encouraging people to undertake pilgrimages has helped bring the tradition to a wider audience. In September 2025, the Trust reported that its website had attracted nearly 390,000 visitors during the first half of that year, putting it on course for its busiest year to date.
The Church of England is contributing to the same movement. New routes, local initiatives and resources exploring the lives of saints are helping people rediscover the connections between Britain's religious heritage and its landscapes.
There is, then, a revival under way. The more interesting question is what happens next.
Britain already has the history, the routes and the places. What it does not yet have is a consistently joined-up way of experiencing them.
Pilgrimage is no longer quite what people imagine
Mention pilgrimage and many people still think of medieval travellers, religious orders or the long journey to Santiago de Compostela. Others think of Lourdes, Jerusalem or Rome. These remain important reference points, but they tell only part of the story.
Someone might walk to Walsingham as an expression of Christian devotion. Another person might follow St Cuthbert's Way because of its landscape and history, only to discover that the religious significance of the journey becomes more important to them along the way. A family might visit a series of historic churches without attaching any particular religious meaning to the experience.
It would be a mistake to pretend these are all identical motivations. They are not. Yet they can coexist within the same landscape, and they give pilgrimage a relevance that extends beyond the boundaries of organised religion.
There is also something inherently British about the opportunity. A pilgrimage does not have to involve an international flight or an elaborate itinerary. It might begin at a parish church a few miles from home and continue through villages, fields and historic towns over the course of a weekend.
The difference between finding a route and actually walking it
Imagine deciding to spend a week following a British pilgrimage route.
You find a guide, study the map and work out roughly how far you can walk each day. You identify the villages where you might stop overnight. Then the less romantic work begins.
Is there accommodation in the right place? Is it available on the night you need it? Can it accommodate your party? If the village is fully booked, is there a sensible alternative without adding an unreasonable distance to the following day's walk?
Now repeat that exercise for six or seven consecutive nights.
For experienced walkers, this may be familiar territory. For someone attempting their first pilgrimage, it can be enough to put the idea on hold.
This is an important distinction. Inspiring people to undertake a journey and helping them organise it are two separate tasks. A route directory can be excellent at the first without being designed for the second. A hotel booking website can find a room in a particular town without understanding why the traveller needs to be there on that particular night.
A pilgrimage, particularly one lasting several days, is a sequence of connected decisions. Where someone sleeps on Tuesday affects where they can realistically reach on Wednesday.
The natural next step is to build planning tools around the journey rather than treating every overnight stay as an isolated transaction.
Why accommodation may prove more important than people think
There is a tendency to focus on routes when discussing pilgrimage. But accommodation often determines whether a multi-day journey is practical.
Britain's countryside presents particular difficulties. Some villages have only a handful of places to stay. Availability can vary considerably by season, and the nearest suitable accommodation may be some distance from the route itself.
The supply of accommodation is also more varied than a conventional hotel search might suggest. Pilgrims may want independent guesthouses, country inns, hostels, retreat centres or church-linked accommodation. Some will prioritise price; others will prefer a private room, particular facilities or a location close to a church they wish to visit.
A useful planning platform should recognise these differences rather than flatten everything into a generic list of rooms. That is why Pilgrim Stays UK brings together independent guesthouses, retreat centres, church-linked accommodation and hotels in one route-led search.
Where Twelve Pilgrims Travel fits into the picture
Twelve Pilgrims Travel is a specialist pilgrimage travel business developing solutions around the practical organisation of pilgrimage. Through its Christian Tours site and its Pilgrim Stays UK accommodation platform, the business is working towards a more connected approach to pilgrimage planning and accommodation.
The thinking behind Pilgrim Stays UK is relatively simple: people planning a pilgrimage should be able to search for accommodation in the context of the journey they want to undertake.
Most booking platforms begin with a destination. A traveller chooses a town, enters some dates and looks for a room. That approach works well when the destination is the main consideration.
For someone following a pilgrimage route, however, the destination changes each day. The traveller may not particularly want to stay in a particular town; they want to reach a sensible stopping point along the route and find somewhere suitable to sleep.
Pilgrim Stays UK's route-led approach is designed around that distinction. A traveller can begin by selecting a British pilgrimage route, specifying their party size and entering their intended dates. The aim is to help identify accommodation for the successive nights of the journey, rather than forcing the traveller to research every stop independently.
Consider a seven-day pilgrimage beginning on 1 August. The first night's accommodation needs to be available on 1 August, the second night's on 2 August, and so on. Finding a collection of properties that look suitable is not enough; the itinerary needs to work across the dates required.
A complement to the existing pilgrimage network
There is no need for a commercial planning platform to compete with the organisations that have helped revive British pilgrimage. Quite the opposite.
The work of the British Pilgrimage Trust and the Church of England creates awareness, preserves knowledge and helps people discover journeys worth undertaking. Churches and local communities provide the character and hospitality that make those journeys meaningful.
A planning platform can help people act on that interest. Route organisations do not need to become booking businesses, and churches should not have to develop their own complex digital infrastructure simply to welcome visitors.
For Twelve Pilgrims Travel, the ambition is to establish itself as a useful specialist within that network: helping pilgrims organise their journeys, helping accommodation providers reach relevant travellers and making route-based travel easier to undertake.
The role of technology in the next phase
The most interesting development may not be another route directory or another website featuring Britain's historic churches. It may be the emergence of technology that makes the existing network easier to use.
A church that offers accommodation might need a straightforward way to update availability. A retreat centre might want to receive enquiries without managing several different online listings. A small guesthouse might welcome pilgrims but have no interest in building a bespoke booking system.
Twelve Pilgrims Travel is developing church-facing digital tools - including a church booking portal - that could allow participating organisations to manage bookings and availability while connecting with Pilgrim Stays UK. If delivered effectively, this could help address the administrative burden that sometimes prevents smaller organisations from participating more fully in tourism.
The most useful technology may be the technology that people barely notice because it allows the journey to proceed as intended.
What could hold the industry back?
There are reasons to be optimistic, but the revival should not be mistaken for a guaranteed commercial success.
The first challenge is understanding demand. Website visitors and route downloads indicate interest, but they do not tell us how many people undertake a pilgrimage, how long they stay or how much they spend.
The second is affordability. Pilgrimage should not become an experience available only to those who can afford a week of hotel accommodation. Low-cost options, shorter journeys and clear information about transport and accessibility will remain important.
The third is local capacity. Some of Britain's most attractive pilgrimage destinations have limited accommodation and services. Growth must be realistic about the resources available to local communities.
There is also a risk that the commercial side of pilgrimage becomes more prominent than the reasons people undertake these journeys. The industry should resist measuring success solely through bookings and revenue. Religious significance, local identity and the opportunity for personal reflection are central to what makes pilgrimage different.
A more connected future for British pilgrimage
Imagine being able to discover a pilgrimage route, understand its history, plan daily stages and find suitable accommodation through a connected set of resources.
You would still be able to choose your own pace, decide where to stop and make the journey your own. But you would not have to spend hours working out whether a room was available in the right village on the right night.
The British Pilgrimage Trust has helped make the country's routes and sacred places more visible. The Church of England and local communities continue to contribute to their religious and historical significance. Businesses such as Twelve Pilgrims Travel can help address the practical question that follows: how does someone actually undertake the journey?
Through Pilgrim Stays UK, Twelve Pilgrims Travel is working towards an answer built around route-based accommodation planning. If it succeeds, the value will extend beyond an individual booking. It will mean that more people can contemplate a multi-day pilgrimage without being discouraged by the logistics.
Britain does not lack pilgrimage routes. It does not lack historic churches, remarkable landscapes or places of deep spiritual significance. What remains unfinished is the work of connecting those assets into journeys that people can readily discover and undertake.
The revival of British pilgrimage began with rediscovery. Its next chapter may depend on making that rediscovery practical.
Sources and further reading
- British Pilgrimage Trust
- Church of England: Pilgrim Routes
- Historic England: Heritage and the visitor economy
- VisitBritain: Research and insights
- Twelve Pilgrims Travel
- Pilgrim Stays UK
Figures relating to website traffic reflect the specific measures reported by the organisations cited. They should not be interpreted as a direct count of British pilgrims or as a forecast of pilgrimage-sector revenue.
