Buckfast Abbey

A functioning Benedictine monastery with Buckfast Abbey is located in Devon, England, next to Buckfastleigh. In 1018, Buckfast first hosted an abbey. The current monastery was built in 1134 on the site of the original Benedictine abbey. It was preceded by a Savignac (later Cistercian) abbey. In 1539, the monastery was turned up for dissolution; the monastic structures were stripped of their contents and left in ruins before being eventually destroyed. A Gothic manor house was afterward built on the site of the former abbey, which had once been used as a quarry.

There is a restaurant and a space for conferences and seminars (the Grange). Two gardens with a variety of plants, from dangerous ones to culinary and medicinal herbs, can be found on the west side of the abbey. The monks' private garden is located behind the common area. The river is crossed by a bridge to go to the abbey farm. The Abbey has a farm where vegetables are cultivated, bees, pigs, and cattle are kept, a shop where wine, honey, beeswax, fudge, and other things manufactured by monastic groups across the world are sold, as well as a gift shop, book shop, and restaurant. It is self-sufficient. It is one of the most beautiful historical sites in Devon.

Location: Buckfastleigh, Devon