Our Services

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The choice of funeral is highly personal. It should reflect your wishes and those of the person who has died. Some people want a simple funeral whilst others prefer a more elaborate service to remember their loved one. There are many different ways a funeral can celebrate the individuality of the person who has died. This could be a small touch such as having the deceased's favourite music played at the funeral, or it could be a theme that runs throughout the whole funeral which relates to the deceased's hobbies or interests, for example, for a keen football supporter the team colours could be used. We will be pleased to discuss any idea you may have with this, be it colour of flowers through to the coffin colour or clothing to be worn by mourners. Personalising the funeral gives you the opportunity to create a commemoration to the person who has died and we will advise and spend time in helping you to achieve this.  

The person who makes the arrangements must be able to give instructions and make decisions regarding the funeral details. This person will also be responsible for arranging payment for the funeral. We take care of all practical arrangements advising you of all the options that are there for you and seeing that arrangements are made in accordance with your wishes and those of the person who has died. We will assist in the completion of all statutory documentation and make all necessary arrangements with the clergy, together with the cemetery or crematorium as required. We will give you a confirmation of all arrangements together with a detailed estimate of the cost. We are able to make the funeral arrangements in your home, the funeral home, or a location to suit you. We want you to be in an environment that you feel comfortable with. There are some decisions you will need to make early on, in particular, whether the service will be a cremation or burial, whether the service will be at a church, crematorium, graveside or a place elsewhere.    

Funerals can celebrate the life of an individual person in many ways and we will spend time discussing the options available and our requests to create this commemoration to your loved one. We supply a range of coffins and caskets from the simplest to the most ornate. We understand that people have different preferences and so we will make every effort to give you your requirements. We recognise some people find this very distressing, but it would be inappropriate for us to make this decision for you. With this in mind, we receive many different requests about how the deceased is dressed, for example, "Can we put their favourite clothes on?" - the answer is yes, we will place on any items that you require (as long as it complies with local crematorium regulations). We can supply a wide range of dressing robes, which are acceptable to the relevant authorities. We have a private remembrance room in each of our funeral homes and you can visit the deceased if you wish as many people take comfort from seeing the deceased at rest. You may place personal items with the deceased. We don't have any restrictions, but the local Crematorium will and we can advise on this at the time and return anything that is not allowed. At the same time we are happy to allow you to place items in the chapel of rest, like photos or favourite items. Many people find comfort in doing this by making the room more personal to them, and we are happy to assist in this. Transport is a major part of the funeral service and there are many options, ranging from the traditional hearse to a motorcycle hearse, right through to a horse drawn hearse. You may require a limousine (holding 7 people) and you may wish the cortege to take a special route. You may also wish to consider wheelchair access. At the service there is an opportunity to have specific pieces of music played during the service. This choice is yours and can be a piece of pop music, contemporary or classical played live by the service organist, a musician or CD. In most funerals, the eulogy can be given by the officiant, but not in all cases, and a relative or family member may wish to take part in making the service more personal. We will be pleased to offer advice on this. Flowers are a simple and beautiful way to create a personal tribute. We can help you to choose your flowers and give advice on special orders. Some families like to restrict the sending of floral tributes and request that, as an alternative in remembrance, donations are made to a charity or other organisation. Obituary notices are a useful way of announcing someone's death publicly and allow you to give the funeral details easily, expressing your details of where any donations or flowers can be sent.   

You can be assured that we will take care of everything on the day of the funeral. We will make sure that the funeral proceeds on time and to your requirements in a dignified manner, with respect for religious and local custom in accordance with any legal requirements.   

We can arrange for an obituary to be placed in any newspaper nationwide, including national papers. We can either place a notice you have written yourself, or we can write a appropriate notice on your behalf.

We estimate the cost of the notice at the time of arrangement for the local papers, although this is subject to some variation, depending on the wording. With the national papers, we will contact them with the wording first to receive an up to date quote for this, as their prices are considerably more expensive than our local papers.

All notices listed in the North Devon Journal are now available online and can be shared digitally at the click of a button, via E-mail, Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and many other ways. 

Please click here to view and search current funeral notices.