Buckfast Abbey: A Working Benedictine Monastery on the Dartmoor Edge

Buckfast Abbey is the rare thing in twenty-first-century England: a working Benedictine monastery, with a community of around a dozen monks who still keep the round of prayer that has defined the place for over nine centuries. It also happens to sit on the south-eastern edge of Dartmoor, two minutes off the A38, in walking distance of the South Devon Railway and one of the prettier stretches of the upper Dart. As a day out from Totnes, twenty minutes’ drive away, it is hard to beat for what it costs (which is nothing).

A monastery rebuilt by hand

There has been a religious house on the site since 1018, originally Saxon, then Cistercian after 1147, and finally Benedictine. Henry VIII’s dissolution closed the medieval abbey in 1539 and most of the stone was carted away over the following three centuries.

The current abbey church is barely a hundred years old. In 1882 a small group of French Benedictine monks settled the ruined site and, in 1907, began rebuilding the church on its medieval foundations. They did almost all the work themselves, often only four or six monks at a time, using local stone and traditional methods, finishing in 1937. It is one of the great unsung building stories in modern English architecture. Look up as you enter the nave: the limestone is local, the design is romanesque revival, the proportions are extraordinary.

The grounds and gardens

The abbey precincts are open daily and entry is free, as is parking. The grounds include three distinct gardens that are worth a slow walk: the Sensory Garden, planted for fragrance and texture; the Physic Garden, modelled on the medicinal beds of a medieval infirmary; and the Lavender Garden, at its peak in late June and July when the bees are at work in their thousands. The abbey has its own apiary and the famous Buckfast bee, developed here by Brother Adam in the early twentieth century, remains one of the most prized strains of honey bee in Europe.

Down by the river, a short riverside walk runs along the Dart toward Buckfastleigh proper, and you can combine a visit to the abbey with a steam train ride from Buckfastleigh station to Totnes on the South Devon Railway.

Times, services and what is open

The abbey church is open daily from around 7:45am until early evening, with public access usually until 8:20pm on weekdays and slightly earlier on Saturday. Visitors are welcome to attend any of the daily services, sung by the monks in the choir: Lauds, Mass, Vespers and Compline are the four most accessible to those who want a sense of the rhythm of the place. The conventual Mass at 12 noon, Monday to Saturday, is open to all.

The shops, gardens and Grange Restaurant open from 10am to 4:30pm Monday to Saturday, and from 11:30am to 4:30pm on Sunday. The Monastic Shop is genuinely good: liqueurs and beers brewed by Benedictine communities across Europe, beeswax candles, honey, books, religious art. The Bookshop is one of the best religious bookshops in the South West. The Grange does proper Devon cream teas, soups and lunches.

Practical visiting notes

Free parking on site for cars and coaches. The grounds are largely accessible, with level paths through the gardens and ramped access into the church. Dogs are welcome in the outdoor areas on a lead but not inside the church or restaurant. There is no admission charge anywhere, though the abbey welcomes donations toward the upkeep of the church and the work of the community.

The abbey runs a busy programme of concerts, retreats and special services across the year, particularly around Easter, Christmas and Holy Week, when the church is at its most striking. The annual Buckfast Carol Service in December books up quickly. If you are visiting in summer, the early morning hour before the gardens open at 10am is the best time for the church itself; the light through the rose window over the high altar is worth the early start.

Combining a visit with the wider area

Buckfast Abbey sits on the doorstep of Dartmoor, with Hembury Castle and Hembury Woods a fifteen-minute drive or a one-hour walk up the Dart valley. The town of Buckfastleigh is a five-minute walk away, the South Devon Railway runs from there to Totnes in season, and the Dartmoor edge proper begins at Holne and Scoriton just to the west. The abbey works equally well as a quiet morning stop on a fuller day on the moor, or as a destination in its own right.

Buckfast Abbey as a working Benedictine monastery is one of the most distinctive places to visit on the Dartmoor edge, and unlike most ecclesiastical sites in England it remains a genuine living community rather than a museum. If you want to push deeper into the surrounding hills, our guide to Dartmoor’s south-eastern edge from Buckfastleigh picks up the walking routes from the abbey gate.