Buckfastleigh

A former wool town on the banks of the River Mardle, several old mill buildings still stand and the large houses of their former owners lie on the outskirts. A unique insight into the lives of local folk is provided by an old inn that has been restored and now houses the Valiant Soldier Museum and Heritage Centre. When the Valiant Soldier pub was closed in the 1960s, everything was left in place – even the money in the till. Rediscovered years later, this life-size time capsule features period public and lounge bars, as well as domestic rooms including the kitchen, scullery, parlour and bedrooms.

Buckfastleigh is the western terminus and headquarters of the South Devon Railway, (formerly known as the Primrose Line) whose steam trains ply the seven-mile route along the lovely Dart Valley to and from Totnes. The Dart is a fast-flowing salmon river and its banks abound with herons, swans, kingfishers, badgers and foxes. The company also offers a combined River Rail ticket so that visitors can travel in one direction by train and return by boat. The railway runs regular services during the season with the journey taking about 25 minutes each way.

Another popular attraction close to the town is the Buckfast Butterflies and Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary where a specially designed tropical rain forest habitat has been created for the exotic butterflies. There’s an underwater viewing area and both the butterflies and otters can be photographed, with the otters’ thrice-daily feeding times providing some excellent photo-opportunities.

A couple of miles south of Buckfastleigh, Pennywell is a spacious all-weather family attraction that offers a wide variety of entertainments and activities. Pennywell also boasts the UK’s longest gravity go-kart ride and promises that its hands-on activities provide something new every half hour.

Another mile or so south, the little church of Dean Prior stands beside the A38. The vicar here at the time of the Restoration was the poet and staunch royalist, Robert Herrick (1591-1674). Herrick’s best-known lines are probably the opening of To the Virgins, to make Much of Time:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

Herrick apparently found rural Devon rather dull and much preferred London where he had a mistress 27 years his junior. Perhaps to brighten up the monotony of his Devonshire existence, he had a pet pig that he took for walks and trained to drink beer from a tankard. Herrick died in 1674 and was buried in the churchyard where a simple stone marks his assumed last resting place.