April - October 2017 - Due to the installation of our new pipe organ, we regret to say that access to some areas of the Abbey Church is restricted at times.

Desiring to find a peaceful location to continue their monastic community after the anti-clerical laws were enacted in France, the monks of the community of La Pierre-qui-vire were driven from their homeland and re-established monastic life at Buckfast in 1882.

Today, those who come to the monastery are often drawn by the expectation of peace - of a place of calm in a rather hectic world.

Visitors to Buckfast are struck by this atmosphere of calm, an absence of noise and other more worldly distractions. This is true even of the more secular visitor or group.

Benedictine spirituality at Buckfast Abbey is firmly rooted. It is not swept together from all sorts of spiritual traditions; it offers a measured approach, it does not make haste; it contains nothing mysterious or esoteric; it does not focus on the spiritual quest of any individual, but on the growth of the person living in a community - whether religious or secular.

For people wishing to stay for a while or for those who make a more casual visit, for schools and other specialist groups, there is certainly scope to offer a variety of rich encounters here at Buckfast Abbey.