The Diocese of Oxford is the administrative area of the Church of England that, broadly speaking, covers the three counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

It covers 2,200 square miles – and much the same area as Thames Valley Police.

The diocese sits between the Cotswolds in the west and London to the east. It extends from tiny rural communities to the vastly different cities of Oxford and Milton Keynes.

From Chipping Norton to Slough, from west Berkshire to Newport Pagnell, there are villages and market towns, suburbs and urban areas, organized into 626 parishes.

There are 815 churches in our diocese – more than any other diocese in the Church of England. So in many ways the best description of the Diocese of Oxford is that it is the family of the 55,000 or so regular worshippers in these churches.

However, the relationship between Church and state in this country means that every one of the 2.2 million or so people who live in our area has a parish church.

So even if you are not a regular churchgoer, if you live within the Diocese of Oxford, welcome. The Church is there for you.