Buckfast Abbey Brews Up a Brouhahah!
 

If in Devon on the edge of the big moor you can check out the Buckfast Abbey, where since the 1880s monks that came from France have been brewing up some potent wine concoction but with loads of caffeine in it - the brew has become the rage with younger folk in places like Scotland where officials are considering banning it for having too much caffeine - like our alcoholic energy drinks (seems like an oxymoron!).

I enjoyed visiting Buckfast Abbey a few years back - nice tour and nice if not ancient abbey.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/wo...wine.html?_r=0

Oops link to today's article in the New York Times!

Pal

This news is not news.

It was news around 10 years ago.

The NYT appears to be very slow today.

PQ: You need to get your nose out of the nyt and actually go to the UK once in a while. Most of the nyt travel articles you link here are either naff, out of date, or flat wrong.

It may be old news to Brits but I write for Americans not Brits nor wannabe Brits and Americans may find it interesting and put the abbey into their western England itineraries - so I think it is relevant for that reason - cheers janis!

Surely Americans don't want stale news. I can't really imagine that they'd be particularly interested in Scottish yobbos abusing tonic wine.

Buckie tonic wine. No thanks. NYT has great travel articles IMO. The one on Belfast recently was good for our trip. Between that and TA people.

>>Surely Americans don't want stale news. I can't really imagine that they'd be particularly interested in Scottish yobbos abusing tonic wine.<<

Unless of course the spring break phenomenon shifts from Florida to Buckfast. That might amuse the monks.....

Surely Americans don't want stale news. I can't really imagine that they'd be particularly interested in Scottish yobbos abusing tonic wine.>

Seems like the foks at the NY Times feel differently to make it a featured article in the front section.

Again I mentioned it mainly because of folks may want to visit the place not necessarily because of the news angle. Wrap your heads around that IF possible instead of sniping...

janis - what do you think of Buckfast Abbey - is it worthy of your blessings or not - what does Fodor's foremost British travel expert have to say about Buckfast - worth a detour or not?

I think the big billing that the NYT gives this article proves what a provincial rag it is.

Ducks down ready for another volley from the "we love our NYC" brigade.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obs...igan_wine.html

Well Slate is a litle slow on the uptick too - but again I mention it as travel info - a neat place where one may want to stop by when going into the Devon Moor and also stock up on a unique booze that for eons never raised a stir.

http://archynews.com/buckfast-journa...-and-scrutiny/

archynews just posted this a day before the NYTimes

Even THE GUARDIAN was about nine years too late with the news

http://www.theguardian.com/society/s...-west-scotland

For some reason it is currently hitting the rounds so NYTimes ain't the only news turtle.

"what does Fodor's foremost British travel expert have to say about Buckfast - worth a detour or not?"

Don't know about janisj. But IMHO, Buckfast is terrific if you're in Devon and want a properly sung Sunday Mass, or an alternative in the late afternoon to the (also excellent) Evensong at Exeter cathedral. Good lay choir, boosting the rather tiny number of monks, in an area where there's not that much decent music around.

But that's about it. The church is a standard Victorian pastiche (think almost any cathedral on America's east coast): the abbey complex is pleasant enough - but the area's swarming with National Trust properties offering the same mix of nice gardens, gift shops, tea rooms and rural quiet - and they've all got an interesting house at their centre.

Like most working abbeys these days, Buckfast is fine for retreats, conferences or concerts - but underwhelming as a tourist attraction. And Devon's rich enough in footpaths that you really don't need to go out of your way to spend a few hours meandering around lovely countryside.

The site was first established by the Benedictines around 1000 AD, then taken over by the Cistercians who more or less invented Britain's commercial wool industry. 500 years later, the Prod fundamentalists did their standard fanatical destruction and theft routine, and the ancient buildings were almost entirely razed (to build a nice new house) around 1800

Virtually all Buckfast's current buildings date from after the late 19th century, when Benedictines returned. Buckfast's unusual (I think unique, but I've a feeling there's an abbey in Scotland with a similar history) among modern British abbeys in being both on the site of a Saxon predecessor and run by the monastic order which originally founded it. But there are a few dozen other abbeys tucked away around the country.

Mrs F and the Flannerpooch dropped me off for Mass there a year or two back. By the time (an hour later) they came to pick me up, they'd completely run out of things to see or do.

Caldey Island off Pembrokeshire is worth a visit. It's Cistercians again and the present abbey is fairly modern. The monks go in for dairy farming and make chocolate and perfumes.

Here you go http://www.caldey-island.co.uk
There's plenty of interest of there apart from the Abbey

If you've ever tasted their tonic Wine, my sympathies. It's quite good for degreasing your oven.

Do you think we will ever see Pal on the cover of Vanity Fair kitted out like Lady Bracknell?


Thin, earnest

Over-dressed, yes.

Over-educated, mmmm.

Who the H is Lady Bracknell? How much do they pay for a cover shot? Could be enticing but I think slightly obese old farts are not much in demand?

https://www.google.com/search?q=lady...=1600&bih=1075

Umh - not much in my closet to fill the bill it seems!

You can't possibly remain moderator of Euro Potpourri if you don't know who Lady Bracknell is.

And whoever compiled those Google photos of Lady Bracknell should be horsewhipped!

The photo of Judy Dench wearing a black gown and sitting on a green damask sofa is not a depiction of Lady Bracknell!

That is a photo of Judy portraying Lady Catherine de Bourgh!

Outrage! Outrage!


Thin