The Church Triumphant: English Churches in Watercolour by Bob Moody (Moody & Associates, £28)

SOMETIMES, it takes a visitor to these shores to point out to the natives just what treasures lie under their very noses.

Bob Moody is one such missionary who has alighted on the soil of fair Albion in order to bring about some enlightenment for the benefit of the inhabitants.

There is no doubt that this American is able to turn a phrase. However, he possesses an even greater gift - that of a man whose paint box is also capable of speaking volumes.

For Mr Moody is a master of the watercolour. Not for him the chunkiness of oils, this is a man whose pastel shades work wonders with the English pastoral scene.

And nothing is more evocative of our glorious rolling landscapes than the village church.

Armed with the knowledge that this familiar sight on the horizon has for centuries been the most important building in the community, the artist has set about capturing the essence of what the English church means in the context of our history and culture.

Across the Cotswolds, Midlands and parts of London he travels, his drawings providing instant, visual essays on these symbols of nearly 2,000 years of worship and celebration.

Through the waxing and waning of the seasons, countless churches stab the skyline of England, dagger steeples proclaiming the glory of earth and heaven. All this is perfectly distilled by the marriage of water and powder filtering through the deftness of Mr Moody's glorious brushwork.

Winter, spring, summer and autumn. It matters not - for these are pictures that spring to life, leaping from the page in a proliferation of warm brickwork, verdant graveyards and azure-washed skies.

And yes, just in case you're wondering, the artist did find the time to call at Worcester to record the magnificence of the Faithful City's Cathedral, where he captured every nuance of St Wulstan's great legacy.

This marvellous book is indeed a collector's item. It will not only appeal to students of architecture, but also for all those who still move in time to the stately rhythms of an England that is far from lost.

John Phillpott