East Devon church guide

Combpyne Rousdon Church, that eye-catching tower roof and the ancient structure, is an arresting site in an pretty little valley

And it is not just a bit of cottage-core cosplay, it really is a sweetly designed and well thought through building; there is a lot to love.

Branscombe church is an artistry in stone and wood, light and glass, deep history and modern enchantment. There is nothing like it in Devon

Budleigh Salterton church is astounding. The architecture is splendid, the decorations are enchanting, and the stained glass is magnificent

A pretty little church too, draping itself in trees and light as it does; mainly thirteenth century, with a fifteenth century tower and aisle.

Colaton Raleigh church is marvellous. Nowadays it sits quietly but back in in the nineteenth century was a revolutionary building

West Hill Church, a spoonful of Victorian sweetness, a little sugar cube of delight, it really is a worth a drop in.

Inside folk have come and gone with their changes, the righthand south aisle was added in the 15th century and renovation in the 19th.

Norman origins, late thirteenth early fourteenth century rebuild, new tower, porch and a general tidy up in fifteenth, refurbishments after.

The whole seems to have been rebuilt in the fifteenth century but I would lay good odds that the chancel (on the left) is on the original Norman footprint. Or was there a Saxon chapel?

The church itself is a corker, a sweet exterior with wonders galore inside. This version is fifteenth century, with various restorations.

Awliscombe church of St Michael and All Angels is beaut. It seems to be mainly fifteenth century, though some put it a tad later.

Clayhidon is an enchanting parish with a little jewel of a church sitting up in the north with a simple, sweet interior.

It is a modest dainty, a perfect little Devon red stone church, a primroses in the spring kind of pleasant…

Those attractive red stone arches gracefully flowing up the nave, dipping elegantly to meet the octagonal pillars…

A charm of a church tower nestled into the western valley side so we can climb almost level with the top for a view worth the visit alone.

There are sixty-three sets of oak bench ends, all carved around 1537 and the most complete set in Devon if not the country

That tower is Norman, and that tiny chancel is also suspiciously small, early chancels were much smaller than later ones generally

Kentisbeare Church of St Mary has one of the best rood screens in the county along with other beauties that make it a total star

The church is a sweetie, built mainly from local stone and flint rubble. It is also unaltered fourteenth century and full of treasures.

So we enter by the north porch and are plunged up to our waists in a sea of wondrous box pews, full of the browns of the universe.

The way he emphasises the arches with double or triple lines, the careful use of stained and clear glass to allow the light to splash around

Inside this church is an astonishing range of little treasures, from medieval stained glass to beautiful Devon carvings. Stunning stuff.

A flat-bottomed vale watered by a wandering stream, an oasis in the jumbled valleys of the Blackdown Hills, Dalwood is a pretty little find.

Outside, a charming exterior, heavily restored 1846, creating a little gothic dream in its prettily flowered churchyard in the middle of town; cared for with love.