The Pink Passport quest continued onto my annual holiday down to Devon and Cornwall with visit number 25 being to Buckland Abbey in Devon.
It was not a place I had heard off before, but it appeared on my National Trust app as being local to where I was staying so decided to pop in on what was a rainy day, one of those days where it’s better to be indoors once you get to where you need to be.
A little bit about about the history of this place is as follows:
orogonally build around 700 years ago as an abbey by the Cistercians who also farmed the estate.
It remained an abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII.At this time the revenues were placed at £241 17s. 9d. per annum (equivalent to £202,900 in 2025).
Sir Francis Drake purchased the property in 1581 using wealth gained from his circumnavigation of the globe on the Golden Hind and lived there until his death in 1596.
The Abbey remained in the Drake family until 1946.
Although it is not the biggest place I have visited and probably one of those places that would become quite irritating on a busy day, as it was quiet, I thoroughly enjoyed the visit, especially learning more about Sir Francis Drake and also seeing a Rembrandt painting up close (even if I was convinced it looked like Johnny Vegas!)
