Welcome!

Dunsden Church:  

 The church was built in the mid 1800s in response to the need for a simple place

of worship to serve the very rural community, and it is still regularly used today. Wilfred Owen, the great World War One poet spent some time here as a lay assistant. It probably still looks very much the same as it did in his time, surrounded by fields, with the smell of hay and wild flowers in the summer                                                 

Shiplake Church:

Parts of Shiplake church are very old, with its bell tower and lady chapel dating back to the eleven hundreds. Here in the mid- nineteenth century Alfred Lord Tennyson was married. The medieval stained glass is French in origin, having come from the ruined Abbey at St. Omar.

The Countryside:

Both churches are blessed by being situated in the Thames Valley -the four miles  between them are rich in woodland, with quiet pathways, birds and all sorts of woodland animals.

Wildlife:

If you are very lucky (and very quiet) whilst walking in the woods you may catch a glimpse of a fox.

- or maybe a badger or woodpecker.

The local herd of deer are so quick that it is difficult to get a photograph of them

(but we are still trying!)

Bluebells:

And yes, the woods really are full of bluebells in late spring!

The Village Inbetween:

The little village of Binfield Heath stands between Dunsden and Shiplake - with its friendly village shop and Post Office. 

Flower Festival:

Finally, a glimpse inside Dunsden Church at flower festival time, when the whole place fills with all sorts of beautiful flowers that have been lovingly arranged to thank God for giving us all such an amazing world to live in!