St. Saviour’s, Dartmouth

This delightful church is in Simon Jenkins ‘One Thousand Best Churches’ for good reason. St. Saviour’s is tucked down a side street. It is open every day and both doors are open wide to welcome people in. It is well worth going in as it is simply a stunning church. Richly carved as many Devon churches are, this must be one of the very best.

The sign outside gives a nice clear welcome to the visitor. Inside I found a guide book (very well produced with colour photographs) and a welcome sheet (also available in several languages). The latter uses the building to give a simple outline of the Christian faith. There are some multi lingual paddle boards and a selection of book marks, prayer cards, Tim Tilley booklets, postcards etc. on sale. Also some ‘faith stones’, small pebbles with short bible verses painted on them. I was rather taken with a monthly prayer guide which lists subjects and areas to pray for in the world, the deanery and the roads etc. in the parish. This is a nice idea which is seldom seen (Broadstairs had done something similar).

For children there is an area set up with colouring available and a knitted Noah’s Ark to play with.

Candles can be lit on the votive stand and there is a prayer request board also. A Bible is left open on the lectern at one of the day’s readings.

140 people had put entries in the visitors book over the last 21 days. This is a well visited church which is making a real effort to provide for those who come in. I rate St. Saviour’s as very good.