People campaigning against the expansion of Stansted Airport staged a demonstration on Sunday.
Terry Waite was special envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury
Organisers combined Sunday's Vanishing Villages demonstration in Broxted, Essex with a garden open day.
They said they expected thousands of people from across Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to join in.
Former Beirut hostage Terry Waite - who has become active in the campaign against growth at Stansted - led prayers at the event.
Stop Stansted Expansion campaigners say more than 70 villages and market towns would lose their rural character if the new runways were built.
Mr Waite, who lives in Suffolk, said this cannot be allowed to happen.
He said: "It would devastate local communities.
"It would mean, really, that we would have unbroken urban development in the form of roads, infrastructure, and housing, and more of our precious heritage would disappear under Tarmac."
The government's consultation into the future development of air transport is to close on Monday.