In Amsterdam’s busy centre, on the northern side of the square called the Spui, an unassuming timber door is a portal into one of the city’s most magical spots: a 14th-century enclosed courtyard where tiny gabled houses – all different – wrap around green lawns. Traffic noise vanishes and the serenity is almost startling – particularly these days, with parts of the city now suffering the detrimental effects of mass tourism.

This former convent (of sorts) was home to the Beguines, a Catholic order of unmarried or widowed women who lived like nuns although they didn’t take monastic vows. The last died in 1971.

Inside the courtyard are two intriguing churches. Dating from 1392, the gothic Engelse Kerk was rented to English and Scottish Presbyterians, including the Pilgrim Fathers, after the Reformation. (The head of the Beguines, one Cornelia Arens, refused to be buried inside a Presbyterian church following her death in 1654; her grave is in the garden.) It is still Amsterdam’s Presbyterian church, with services in English held at 10.30am on Sundays.

Under the protestant Calvinists, the Beguines worshipped at the clandestine Begijnhof Kapel: built in 1671 it deliberately does not look like a church from the outside, but inside is an exquisite marble-columned chapel with stained-glass windows and wall painting.

Also in the Begijnhof is Amsterdam’s oldest preserved wooden house (circa 1465), one of only two remaining in the city after their construction was banned to reduce the fire risk. Visitors are asked to minimise noise out of respect for the 105 single women of “good moral character” who still live here today.

Catherine Le Nevez is the author of Lonely Planet’s Amsterdam city guide