Sunday 24th July 2011: Buckland Abbey and Dartmoor

A dull start so we fancied a change from the coast and headed inland to visit Buckland Abbey, which had been a monastery originally until Henry the eigth confiscated it and sold it to Sir Richard Grenville. he converted it into a house and then sold it to Sir Francis Drake. this is the outside view of the Great Barn (on the left) the kitchen Garden and the front of the house

You go through the great barn before entering the house, it is surprisingly spacious!

Here is the view in the other direction

The is the view of the house as you leave the barn and enter the herb garden

This is the entrance of the house on the left of the building

There is a carved effigy of the first abbess above the small doorway on the right

As you enter the building there is a small information room with a looping video story of Drakes life and this rather splendid Bronze depicting the contest between Queen Elizabeth, King Philip of Spain and the Armada

And in a display case is Drake's Drum, hard to believe it was used at the battle with the Spanish Armada, it has the legend that in time of dire threat it will sound of it's own accord and Summon Drake back from the dead to come to England's aid!

We continued round the house and here is a shot of the kitchen

We had a very agreeable lunch in the cafe and then went in search of Dartmoor, but we were not impressed, it didn't look much like a moor to us, more of a heath.

no comparison with the yorkshire moors, and the little side roads had such high hedges that you couldn't see very far.
Never mind, it was a change and a good day out!