Leigh: St Andrew

Batcombe: St Mary

Dorset villages have a well-deserved reputation for offering a warm welcome to newcomers. The same is true of our Benefice and there are lots of different places where you can find a home with us.Every one of our worshipping communities has its own character, but they all share a desire to welcome anyone who comes through the door. Come in and you will find friendly faces.

Each week in different parts in the Benefice you will find family friendly worship. We aim to provide something for all ages at these services so come and test us out. Feedback is very welcome.There is a very long history of worship in the Benefice going back hundreds of years. Our worship reflects this with more modern worship living happily alongside more traditional forms.

Batcombe is a small dispersed village at the head of the beautiful Wriggle Valley. The parish is mostly dairy farmland and comprises 30 or so houses, spread along the four arms of the central crossroads. Farming families form the bedrock of the population of 75 adults, which also includes business folk working from home or commuting and a few retired or second homeowners. The small but beautiful old church of St. Mary Magdalene is at the extreme south of the village.

The church has a locally-built organ with an organist. The surrounding graveyard and adjoining car park are regularly maintained by a small but dedicated group of volunteers from the village. One mile to the east is Hilfield Friary, one of the foundation houses of the Society of Saint Francis, and Batcombe is blessed by the support of the Brothers, who preside at some services

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].

Ryme Intrinseca: St Hypolytus

As they say in Ryme: we have no village hall, no pub, no shop, but we have a church. A church we might add at the centre of a community that loves to celebrate.

Ryme Intrinseca is a small ancient parish with a good sense of community. The 12th-century church’s dedication to St. Hippolytus, is one of only two in England. The village has no parish council and, instead, the church hosts twice-yearly residents’ meetings.

Regular church services are held in alternate months and there are special services at Christmas. There is a small but active PCC, and events include a harvest supper and a summer garden party held every other year.

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].

Hilfield: St Nicholas

Dorset villages have a well-deserved reputation for offering a warm welcome to newcomers. The same is true of our Benefice and there are lots of different places where you can find a home with us.

Every one of our worshipping communities has its own character, but they all share a desire to welcome anyone who comes through the door. Come in and you will find friendly faces.

Each week in different parts in the Benefice you will find family friendly worship. We aim to provide something for all ages at these services so come and test us out. Feedback is very welcome.

There is a very long history of worship in the Benefice going back hundreds of years. Our worship reflects this with more modern worship living happily alongside more traditional forms.
Joined with the parish of Yetminster, St. Nicholas, Hilfield is at the southern end of the Benefice and is a lively, well-supported small church at the centre of a farming community set in glorious countryside with outstanding views.

The village itself has no centre, but the church attracts a gathered congregation from the area, including the Friary, for its occasional services. A small team meets regularly and the church is well maintained.

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].

Beer Hackett: St Michael

Dorset villages have a well-deserved reputation for offering a warm welcome to newcomers. The same is true of our Benefice and there are lots of different places where you can find a home with us.

Every one of our worshipping communities has its own character, but they all share a desire to welcome anyone who comes through the door. Come in and you will find friendly faces.

Beer Hackett (with Knighton) is a thriving village of approximately 90 people. Alongside farms and smallholdings is an Automobility business with 47 employees. Having no pub or shop, St. Michael’s church is the only gathering point for village events.

Regular monthly services are held, with special services for festivals. Annual events include the Good Friday ‘Way of the Cross’ walk, a wine and cheese party, and a Christmas carol service. Other events are arranged by the Friends of St. Michael. The church has a proactive PCC and a well-organised team of cleaners and flower arrangers.

Each week in different parts in the Benefice you will find family friendly worship. We aim to provide something for all ages at these services so come and test us out. Feedback is very welcome.

There is a very long history of worship in the Benefice going back hundreds of years. Our worship reflects this with more modern worship living happily alongside more traditional forms.

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].

Bradford Abbas: St Mary the Virgin

St Mary's is open every day to visitors. Please come in for a moment of personal prayer or when you just want a quiet place to sit and think. We have tea and coffee making facilities - help yourself. We have two or more Sunday services each month and new faces are always welcome.

Bradford Abbas is a large village of around 1000 inhabitants, including some families who have lived in the village for many generations. It is a caring and friendly community, situated away from the main A30 approximately midway between Sherborne and Yeovil. It has a primary school and a pre-school, a pub and a village hall. There is a sports ground with a recreational club, a Variety club, a branch of the WI, a thriving history society, a camera club, and bridge and yoga clubs.

St. Mary’s is a beautiful grade I listed church in good order with a fine organ often used for concerts. There is a Heritage Fund for help with some major fabric works, and any appeals are supported by the villagers, even if they do not attend church.

There is a Bible study group, an enthusiastic bell-ringing group, which also supports neighbouring churches, and a choir formed for Christmas carols. The church works closely with the primary school, organising several services throughout the year, and also supports the Sherborne Food Bank.

Holwell: St Laurence

Dorset villages have a well-deserved reputation for offering a warm welcome to newcomers. The same is true of our Benefice and there are lots of different places where you can find a home with us.

Every one of our worshipping communities has its own character, but they all share a desire to welcome anyone who comes through the door. Come in and you will find friendly faces.

Each week in different parts in the Benefice you will find family friendly worship. We aim to provide something for all ages at these services so come and test us out. Feedback is very welcome.

There is a very long history of worship in the Benefice going back hundreds of years. Our worship reflects this with more modern worship living happily alongside more traditional forms.

Holwell is the most extensive parish in the eastern White Hart Vale area of the Benefice, with a population of 400. It is a dispersed village and St. Laurence church, where two services are held each month, is on the edge of the main settlement. The church is in generally good repair, with bells rung at festivals by a local team. Church members are very active in the community and are involved in a wide variety of village organisations.

A Summer Fete has been held for many years and more recently the church has been used for classical guitar concerts. At Harvest we join in with the Village Harvest Supper. A home group meets monthly throughout the year and weekly during Advent and Lent. Based on the Village Hall, Holwell hosts a monthly ‘Fresh Expression’ known as Fourth Sunday – one of two in the Benefice. This is a time of informal worship and fellowship, together with cakes and coffee! Folk come from across the Benefice and beyond

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].

Thornford: St Mary Magdalene

Dorset villages have a well-deserved reputation for offering a warm welcome to newcomers. The same is true of our Benefice and there are lots of different places where you can find a home with us.

Every one of our worshipping communities has its own character, but they all share a desire to welcome anyone who comes through the door. Come in and you will find friendly faces.

Each week in different parts in the Benefice you will find family friendly worship. We aim to provide something for all ages at these services so come and test us out. Feedback is very welcome.

There is a very long history of worship in the Benefice going back hundreds of years. Our worship reflects this with more modern worship living happily alongside more traditional forms.
The church of St. Mary Magdalene has an active and committed congregation.

Each month there is a lay-led Morning Service, a BCP Communion, and a “full” Communion. A regular home study group is led by the Team Rector, and parish prayer is held in the church every Wednesday morning. The church choir sings at the Easter, Harvest, and Christmas services and often at funeral or thanksgiving services.

The church building is structurally sound and has a Benjamin Flight chamber organ. There is a strong link between the church and the village’s Voluntary Aided Primary School, with clergy leading some assemblies and school services being held in church on special occasions. The village also has a shop with Post Office, a pub, and a garage.

The Community Hub meets weekly in the village hall and celebrates special occasions for regular members. Additionally, Sustainable Thornford is an active community group, currently investigating an eclectic mix of bus services, hedgehogs, flooding, and wildflowers. There is also a Twinning Association – the village is twinned with Hudimesnil, Normandy, and exchange visits take place. Thornford benefits from a halt on the Heart of Wessex railway line.

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].

Yetminster: St Andrew

Dorset villages have a well-deserved reputation for offering a warm welcome to newcomers. The same is true of our Benefice and there are lots of different places where you can find a home with us.

Every one of our worshipping communities has its own character, but they all share a desire to welcome anyone who comes through the door. Come in and you will find friendly faces.

Each week in different parts in the Benefice you will find family friendly worship. We aim to provide something for all ages at these services so come and test us out. Feedback is very welcome.

There is a very long history of worship in the Benefice going back hundreds of years. Our worship reflects this with more modern worship living happily alongside more traditional forms.

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].

Hermitage: St Mary

Dorset villages have a well-deserved reputation for offering a warm welcome to newcomers. The same is true of our Benefice and there are lots of different places where you can find a home with us.

Every one of our worshipping communities has its own character, but they all share a desire to welcome anyone who comes through the door. Come in and you will find friendly faces.

Each week in different parts in the Benefice you will find family friendly worship. We aim to provide something for all ages at these services so come and test us out. Feedback is very welcome.

There is a very long history of worship in the Benefice going back hundreds of years. Our worship reflects this with more modern worship living happily alongside more traditional forms.

The little village of Hermitage lies in a small valley with a population of around 80 people working in small businesses, including farming, fishing, and building. It is an active and supportive community, taking part in croquet and concerts in aid of the church, coffee mornings and parties in the village hall and a summer festival weekend on the village green. The simple church is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin and has a regular small congregation augmented at special services such as Harvest and Christmas Eve.

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].

Folke: St Lawrence

Dorset villages have a well-deserved reputation for offering a warm welcome to newcomers. The same is true of our Benefice and there are lots of different places where you can find a home with us. Every one of our worshipping communities has its own character, but they all share a desire to welcome anyone who comes through the door. Come in and you will find friendly faces.

Each week in different parts in the Benefice you will find family friendly worship. We aim to provide something for all ages at these services so come and test us out. Feedback is very welcome.

St. Lawrence Church, Folke, also serves the larger village of Alweston and the hamlets of Bishops Down, Haydon, and North Wootton, offering the scattered local community a variety of services, always followed by coffee and chat.

Special services include a very popular Carol Service and Nativity and a well-attended Pet Service every autumn. Newcomers to the village receive a welcome pack from the church. Alweston has a well-equipped Village Hall where an outreach Post Office opens for half a day each week. The Hall is used regularly for WI meetings, an art group and fitness classes.

A big attraction locally is the Alweston Car Boot Sale, held on four Bank Holidays a year to raise money for the church and Village Hall. There is a very long history of worship in the Benefice going back hundreds of years. Our worship reflects this with more modern worship living happily alongside more traditional forms.

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].

Bishop's Caundle Parish Church

All are welcome at Bishops Caundle Church. Known simply as 'Bishops Caundle Parish Church', serving the community of Bishops Caundle, making Jesus known. We enjoy a close working partnership with our nearest CE primary school.

This has been a site of Christian worship for at least 800 years although the present church building mostly dates from the 14th and 15th centuries.

Set on the main A3030 through the village centre, the parish church has no dedication. Services are held monthly. The church has good links with the village’s All Saints Primary School, which serves many villages in the surrounding area and operates a weekly Forest School Toddler Group. Good facilities are available at the nearby well-equipped village hall. Here parishioners support various activities, including a musical Big Bash, a monthly Fair Trade Café, and the Harvest Supper, as well as Short Mat Bowls and Badminton. The village also has a pub and a shop owned and run by the community, open daily, with an outreach Post Office available on two afternoons a week.

The church consists of a chancel, nave, south aisle, north porch and three-stage west tower which is Perpendicular in style with elements of Somerset tracery. It has a peal of five bells which are regularly rung. The earliest parts of the present building date from the 14th century and are the east wall of the nave and south aisle and the eastern part of its south wall. The nave, west tower and the remainder of the south aisle date from the second half of the 15th century. The north wall of the nave, the south wall of the south aisle, the north porch and most of the chancel were all rebuilt in 1864 when the church was extensively restored by William Slater. The roofs of the chancel, nave and tower were also renewed, a gallery was removed, and a new ringing floor fitted to the tower, while the church interior was repaved, re-floored, and the pews fitted from earlier box-pews.

Chetnole: St Peter

Welcome to St. Peter's Church, Chetnole. Our church lies at the heart of this lovely Dorset village, right opposite the Chetnole Inn and the village hall. We have a regular congregation that is slowly growing, but the level of support enjoyed from volunteers across the village gives substance to the claim that the church is at the heart of the village both physically and spiritually.

The village population numbers around 300. The village has a pub and its own halt on the Heart of Wessex railway line. The village hall is an Artsreach Dorset venue and hosts an annual Art Exhibition. There is a strong sense of a church community, and regular church services include a lay-led service where representatives of relevant charities or church groups are often invited to speak.

Major festivals and services are very well supported and a thriving Friends group raises funds to maintain the fabric of the church. Many other volunteers are responsible for flower arranging, cleaning and maintenance of the churchyard.

Glanvilles Wootton: St Mary the Virgin

This beautiful Grade II* listed Church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, sits in the Benefice of the Three Valleys Team and the Diocese of Salisbury. It is thought that there has been a building for worship at this tranquil spot since the 12th Century.

The doors are open from 10am to 4pm every day. Along with church services we run various events including a fete, harvest supper, talks, teas, and pop-up pub to help build a stronger, happier, local community. Everyone is welcome to come along and participate. Every year we give each household a Christmas gift which gives us a chance to catch up with all residents in the village.

Holnest: Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

We are a friendly church. We are open daily for friends old and new. Here since the 15th century. Our church community is in the main drawn from our own small parish together with regular worshippers from neighbouring parishes. The church volunteers organise many social events in the local community both for fund raising purposes and more importantly to eliminate social isolation and find out what people really want from their church.

We are always looking to grow our congregations at our monthly evening services of evening prayer or holy communion or our regular themed songs of praise services with a variety of readings and to welcome people into our church social community. The Church is grade 1 listed with many unique features including boxed pews, Jacobean pulpit, 13th century font and rare candle sconces.

Caundle Marsh: St Peter & St Paul

Dorset villages have a well-deserved reputation for offering a warm welcome to newcomers. The same is true of our Benefice and there are lots of different places where you can find a home with us.

Every one of our worshipping communities has its own character, but they all share a desire to welcome anyone who comes through the door. Come in and you will find friendly faces.

Each week in different parts in the Benefice you will find family friendly worship. We aim to provide something for all ages at these services so come and test us out. Feedback is very welcome.

There is a very long history of worship in the Benefice going back hundreds of years. Our worship reflects this with more modern worship living happily alongside more traditional forms.

The church of St. Peter and St. Paul stands in a small churchyard adjacent to a working dairy farmyard and is well-loved by the residents of this tiny, scattered village for whom it provides a focus.

The congregation is developing a unique identity as “the Church on the Farm”, intent on developing relationships with the nearby Bishops Caundle Primary School and becoming a valuable resource for learners as an Eco Church.

Services are held on the fifth Sunday of the month, and social events are held after the Harvest service and in early December - “Tune Up for Christmas”, a carol-singing gathering. There is a committed PCC and the church has strong links with local farming families.

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].

Pulham: St Thomas a Beckett

Dorset villages have a well-deserved reputation for offering a warm welcome to newcomers. The same is true of our Benefice and there are lots of different places where you can find a home with us.

Every one of our worshipping communities has its own character, but they all share a desire to welcome anyone who comes through the door. Come in and you will find friendly faces.

Each week in different parts in the Benefice you will find family friendly worship. We aim to provide something for all ages at these services so come and test us out. Feedback is very welcome.

There is a very long history of worship in the Benefice going back hundreds of years. Our worship reflects this with more modern worship living happily alongside more traditional forms.

Despite being situated well outside the centre of the village, St. Thomas à Becket church plays an important part in community life, and the village residents join in church-run events such as the carol service, harvest supper, open gardens, fête, and festival. The PCC ensures that these fundraising events also have a strong social side, and church members work hard to form bonds with the community.

The church is happily ecumenical, welcoming members of other denominations, and prides itself on its inclusivity. Employment within the village is largely agriculture-based, with farms and other related businesses, and there is also a small industrial estate. There is a thriving pub which holds social events and a well-used village hall which also hosts regular events.

For all enquiries: contact Jenny Thomas at the Benefice Office open Monday and Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 12:30pm or phone on 01935 872600 or email at [email protected].