In addition to the floral displays there will be refreshments and a local produce stall.
On Saturday evening, September 15, “Mariners Away”, a local folk band will sing and play in the Church and wine and cheese will be served.
Visitors will see the floral displays at their best and the entry ticket will cover a glass of wine and cheese and nibbles. Tickets are £8. Booking is essential. Please telephone Jane Semorad on 01837 82319 or Caroline Stokes on 01837 82240 to book.
There is free car parking and admission to the Flower Festival is free but donations would be most welcome.
To find Bondleigh church follow the signs from the A3124 Cadditon Cross, two miles south of Winkleigh or Sat Nav: EX20 2AN.
The harvest themed displays will be loosely based on lines taken from Harvest hymns and the aim is to have slightly different and occasionally quirky versions of the usual Harvest festival displays.
One of the displays will feature the famous Bondleigh Treacle mines and produce from this year’s harvest, including treacle tarts, will be on sale!
A competition for children to make a harvest-themed display will be held and these will be on show during the weekend.
The event is in aid of Devon Historic Churches Trust. The DHCT provides grant funds for church repairs and the installation of modern facilities such as kitchens, heating, lighting, toilets and disabled access.
Bondleigh Churchwarden, Danny Semorad, says: “Raising money to repair our church roof the year before last was a daunting task.
“The DHCT was very supportive and encouraging and thanks to them and many other funders and village events we managed to reach our target of £90,000.
“We felt we would like to give something back to the DHCT to go towards helping other Devon churches.
“The money raised from our Flower Festival will go to the DHCT but it has been agreed that half of funds raised will be returned to Bondleigh for our current lighting and heating project.”
Bondleigh is a small village deep in the Taw Valley and is home to about 130 people.
As with many small Devon villages there are no longer any shops, pubs or schools in the village so the Church has been the only public building for many years.
The Church has become in many ways the hub of the community and is increasingly used for village events.
Bondleigh held their previous Flower Festival in 2013 to help raise money for the installation of a kitchen area so that refreshments could be offered after services and at village events.
The lower part of Bondleigh lies on the river Taw and the Tarka Trail winds along the river bank with a lovely old stone bridge over the river.
The village name, Bondleigh comes from old English meaning “a woodland clearing of a man named Bola”.
There are records of the village being in existence back to 1205 and possible even 1086. Most of the recorded history dates back to the 15th century when the present Grade 1 Listed church of St James the Great was built on the site of a previous 12th century Norman building.
More information on the work of the Devon Historic Churches Trust is available at: www.devonhistoric churches.co.uk.