The tiny parish of Braydeston lies in eastern Norfolk about 7 miles east of the city of Norwich. There is no village as such to Braydeston just an area of land, little more than 700 acres, gathered around the eponymous Hall (a 19th century replacement for an earlier building). Braydeston was a "closed" parish with almost all land held by the local dignitaries and never developed a village, it sits south of Blofield and east of Brundall and has almost been absorbed by modern developments growing these places. The parish extended to the nearby Yare giving access to the reed, wildfowl and water transport as well as the normal arable farming.

St Michael's church sits in splendid isolation, among fields at the end of the tarmac of a narrow dead-end road, it continues to Brundall as a footpath beyond the church. Pevsner notes traces of a possibly Norman window but the main dating gives a 13th rather than 12th century origin to the building. The chancel is largely of this date albeit with Decorated style windows added later. The nave has Perpendicular style windows and the western tower has documentary evidence dating its construction between 1440 and 1460. There was a Victorian restoration but in this case it was light and relatively sensitive. The church is screened by a mass of mature trees with a gated entry by a small parking area. Once within the churchyard there are few obstacles to the main photographic angles.