The Ham Hill Villages Benefice is a thriving, welcoming, loving Christian family, living and telling Jesus’ story of love and forgiveness in our communities. We have seven beautiful, ancient churches which are the spiritual centres of the villages of Chiselborough, Middle Chinnock, Montacute, Norton sub Hamdon, Odcombe, Stoke sub Hamdon and West Chinnock surrounding the iconic Ham Hill in South Somerset.
We give a warm welcome to everyone, Christian or not, sharing Jesus’ teaching from the Bible. We have a strong focus on serving our communities, particularly with children and youth work in our four wonderful primary schools and Stanchester Academy.
We offer a wide range of worship with most of our churches having a traditional 9.30am or 11am Communion or Morning Prayer service most Sundays. For those who enjoy contemporary worship we have a very relaxed 4pm Café Church on the 2nd Sunday of the month starting with refreshments and a time of fellowship before worship, sharing Jesus teaching, song and prayer. Equally popular is our very informal, fun Family T@4 for young families at 4pm on the 4th Sunday of the month. All our churches are popular places for Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals.
Finally, as part of the Church of England, our churches are open every day for anyone to visit to sit and pray or just enjoy their beauty and spiritual peace. Whatever your spirituality, do come and join us and find the love and peace of God which passes all understanding!
Although the Ham Hill Villages Benefice is currently in Vacancy (Meaning we are in the process of finding a new Rector), we have a strong Ministry Team (see Who’s Who) who continue to lead services and carry on the work of the church with the support of the churchwardens, PCCs and other volunteers.
Please check the Vacancy Page for more information
Have you tried using the Diocese Prayer Calendar? It is available here to download as a PDF:
Bishop Michael to serve in the House of Lords
Bishop Michael has been called to serve in the House of Lords as one of the Church of England’s Lords Spiritual. He has received his writ of summons from the King and is expected to be introduced to the House in October.
He will continue his ministry as Bishop of Bath and Wells alongside his parliamentary responsibilities, contributing to debates, scrutinising legislation and voting in the House of Lords.
Speaking about his new role Bishop Michael said, “I am deeply honoured to have been called to undertake this responsibility. I look forward to representing the needs and interests of Somerset in the Upper Chamber, sitting as a non-political member who can work with people of all faiths and none, as well as with all political parties.
“I look forward to bringing my expertise in health and international development to my role. There will be an enormous amount to learn about how Parliament works. To enable this to happen, when parliament is sitting, I anticipate being in Westminster about one day a week as part of this role. I will also need to be in residence for two weeks each year to offer prayers for the House of Lords each day as it begins its proceedings.”
“In order to speak well for Somerset, it is going to be really important that I continue to significant time worshipping and visiting in parishes, schools, chaplaincies and communities. This enables me to hear the achievements, concerns, hopes and experiences of people across our county, so that I can better understand all that is happening.
“Every day, it is an enormous honour to serve the people of our county. I look forward to building on what I have shared with you over the past four years, and to extending that in in this new way.
Bishop Michael will be introduced as a Member of the House of Lords at a ceremony on 27 October.
Help and Advice for PCC Treasurers.
The Diocese has added more videos to their Treasurer’s Tools and Tips series. Designed to be easy to access and simple to understand, the videos offer practical support for parish treasurers, covering everything from the role and responsibilities, to the annual routine and more.
In the series, Parish Finance Support Officer Maria Stubbs talks to Nic Laycock, who has served as a parish treasurer for several years. Nic shares practical advice, helpful tips and reassurance for others carrying out this important ministry. You can find the Tools and Tips Videos here
Especial Focus on Prayer
Bishop Michael invites us all to join in the Diocese of Bath and Wells Year of Prayer in 2026.
“Across our diocese of Bath and Wells I would like to make 2026 a year of especial focus on prayer. To be clear, this is not because I think we’re not praying. We are. But could we learn to pray better and pray more? I think we could. Might we do better if we sought to learn from each other? Almost definitely. Might focusing more on prayer shape us to become the people God has created us to be? Certainly. Could we become the answer to our prayers? In God’s good grace I hope so.”
Click here to find the Focus on Prayer Study Packs
For all enquiries about Funerals please contact:
Susan Laycock 07794 423541 / susan.laycock@btinternet.com or Gary Edmunds 07485 789968.
For all enquiries about Weddings or Baptisms please contact the Benefice Office hhv.keep@outlook.com or gary.edmunds@hotmail.com – 07485789968
Benefice Office Hours: Tues, Wed, Thursday 09.00am – 1.00pm
This benefice is a group of seven parishes, located around the famous Ham Hill, just south-west of Yeovil in South Somerset.
The churches include some 120 regular worshippers who are committed to serve God and their communities.
We are part of The Church of England
within the Diocese of Bath and Wells
‘I have come that they may have life in all its fullness’ (John 10 )
SERVICES
When and where, learn more about us and the types of services we offer across the benefice
EVENTS
Meetings, Groups and activities, find out what’s going on across the Benefice on our Events Page
GET IN TOUCH
We would love to hear from you. Please contact us via the details on the Who’s Who page