A Trip Back in Time

There's something I find romantic about old steam trains. I suppose it comes from all the films and TV shows I've watched: Brief Encounter, Murder on the Orient Express, Doctor Zhivago, Downton Abbey - the list goes on. Well, today I finally had the chance to experience the train, if not the romantic plot, thanks to the South Devon Railway.

A little history:

The original railway was built by the Buckfastleigh, Totnes & South Devon Railway Company in 1872. It was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1876 in whose ownership it stayed until 1948 when rail was nationalized. The line was closed to passengers in 1958 and closed down altogether a few years later. It was subsequently taken over as a tourist attraction and in 1991 the railway became a charity, run predominantly by volunteers, and was renamed the South Devon Railway.

We bought our tickets at the Totnes Railway Station and then headed over the somewhat rickety bridge to the Totnes Riverside Station for the seven-mile ride to Buckfastleigh.

The train had just arrived when we got to the station.

Can't you just picture Lady Mary catching a train like this?

We chose the first train after the locomotive and it turned out to be a coach from the 1950s with upholstered bench seats and tables.

We then moved to a coach further back, and further back in time as well, with wooden benches and tables.

We left the station and chugged along the River Dart.

It was very slow and quite serene taking in all the beautiful scenery, but what do you suppose a phone box was doing in the middle of the field?

We pulled into Buckfastleigh Station which has a wonderful collection of reproductions of vintage adverts.

We left the station and walked toward Buckfast.

I wish we could have visited this place - too bad it's a street and not actually a hall.

After about a half mile, we arrived at Buckfast Abbey.

We were surprised to find that there was a food festival on.

Before browsing the foods on offer we decided to look around the abbey.

A bit of history:

The first monastery at Buckfast was founded during the reign of King Cnut in 1018, and was Benedictine. King Henry I had confirmed the Abbey and its possessions at the beginning of his reign, but in 1136, King Stephen gave Buckfast to the Abbot of Savigny, who chose a monk from his own monastery in France to establish the Savignac rule at Buckfast. An even more drastic change came in 1147 when Buckfast joined the Cistercian Order and the monastery was rebuilt in stone. In the middle ages, the influence of the Cistercians made itself felt in the area, and indeed across the country. As owners of large areas of land, the Cistercians became the country’s main wool producers, setting up the industry which was to lead to England’s great wealth in the later Middle Ages.

But then came the dissolution of the monasteries and the land which Buckfast had formerly owned became the property of the King. By the late 18th century the abbey was in ruins. The site was bought by Samuel Berry in 1800, who cleared most of the rubble away to make way for the building of a mansion house on the site. Over the next eighty years, the site changed hands four times, finally falling into the hands of Dr James Gale in 1872. Gale placed an ad offering to sell the site to a religious order. A community of French monks of the Subiaco order, living in Dublin, Ireland took the lease and the first six monks arrived at Buckfast on the 28th October 1882. While digging in the vegetable garden one of the monks discovered part of the medieval foundations. The abbey was rebuilt in the style of the mid-12th century; it took thirty-six years to complete the construction. The Abbey Church was finally consecrated on August 25, 1932. In the 1960s the Abbey was transferred to the English Benedictine Order.

I'd like to say that I learned all that from a guide or from signs around the Abbey, but I got it all online. There is virtually no signage and no tours are run, so a visitor must pay to visit "The Monastic Way" museum onsite to learn anything at all about the Benedictines of Buckfast Abbey. I chose not to visit the museum and so missed out on all the history.

The church though, is quite lovely

and has wonderful, modern stained glass windows. There was a service in progress, so I couldn't get shots of the bright red and yellow windows on either side of the chapel.

By the doors at the back of the Abbey stands the obligatory statue of St. George and the Dragon. I guess it's the animal lover in me that always feels sorry for the dragon. Or maybe it's the Welsh sympathizer. Poor draig.

The Abbey is quite an imposing sight, though, I must admit.

As we approached the food festival we spotted a monk at the hot sauce tent. We found out later that he's the monk that brews the Abbey beer, which just happened to be on sale at the food festival. Bruce said it was very good.

There was a lovely scented meditation garden

and apparently there are other gardens there as well, but they were roped off that day.

I noted that there's a Methodist church on the grounds of the Abbey, but there was no signage explaining why it's located there.

The Abbey also operates a hotel on site and a cafe, complete with operating water wheel.

After a quick bite I walked back to Buckfastleigh

and went past the train station to visit the Devon Otters and Butterfly Sanctuary. We visited there about eight years ago, but since our train wouldn't leave for another hour and a half, I decided to visit again. Happily, I arrived right at feeding time.

This sanctuary has a wonderful rehabilitate and release program, so it's nice to support them.

Inside the butterfly house, it's hot and humid and anyone with glasses doesn't stand a chance. LOL. I wiped my glasses and waited for them to clear, then started enjoying the butterflies. They flit around so close to your head that it's virtually impossible to get good pictures of them. You can catch glimpses of a beautiful bright blue butterfly here, I think.

All around the butterfly house are pupa in various stages of hatching. I watched as children were mesmerized by a butterfly emerging. This is the sort of thing that really excites children and is a great way to get them interested in nature and science.

It's quite a small place, but definitely worth a visit.

I walked back to the station and spent a few minutes in the museum, which is a collection of old trains and train memorabilia.

The Buckfastleigh rail station is a wonderful old building and the way it's decorated with old baggage carts and suitcases really sets the tone for the Steam Railway journey.

The train pulled into the station

and we found our carriage for the way back. This time it was exactly what I wanted: a private carriage right out of Hercule Poirot.

It turns out they have a murder mystery evening on the train twice a month, dinner included. You can be sure that I'll be doing that next time, complete with a 1930's style outfit that I'll whip up for the occasion.

We set off from Buckfastleigh, enjoying the views of the River Dart again.

After a stop at Staverton, possibly the smallest station in Devon, we continued on toward Totnes.

The ride flew by. We arrived at Totnes and made our way across the bridge again

past the sandbar where the seagulls were apparently having a party meeting.

Start to finish, it was a perfect day in South Devon.