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SARAH'S COTTAGE ADJOINS A
14TH CENTURY TOWER ORIGINALLY PART
OF THE NEIGHBORING ABBEY.
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Photo ©
HOME AT FIRST
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BUCKLAND ABBEY, FORMER HOME
OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE,
NOW OWNED BY THE BRITISH
NATIONAL TRUST.
Photo © HOME AT FIRST |
THE COTTAGE:
Sarah's
Cottage was formerly
part of the neighboring Buckland Abbey, a Cistercian abbey and former residence of Sir Francis Drake, now
owned today by England’s National Trust. The cottage is comprised of a comfortable
living room (with color TV and telephone), fully-equipped kitchen (with microwave,
dishwasher and washing machine) and dining room, and a hallway with stairs up
to three bedrooms (one twin-bedded, one double
and one single), and a full bathroom. Although there is central heating
in the cottage, a gas fireplace in the living room and individual
electric storage heaters in all rooms keep the cottage cozy and warm whenever
needed. |
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a
"The
two-week stay at Sarah's Cottage was perfect. It is by the far the most
charming and best-equipped of any of the several Home At First locations we have used although
all have been perfectly fine in their own way over the years."
Bob & Jean B., North Carolina
SIDEBOARD IN
SARAH'S COTTAGE
Photo © HOME AT FIRST |
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BUCKLAND ABBEY & GARDENS
BY SARAH'S COTTAGE
Photo © HOME AT FIRST |
THE SETTING:
Sarah's Cottage is now a building in a privately owned
medieval courtyard adjacent to the grounds of the former abbey. It is situated in
the scenic,
peaceful Tavy River Valley, surrounded by sixteen
acres of private gardens and fields which are in turn surrounded by
National Trust land. Guests at Sarah's Cottage are welcome to enjoy the
beautiful garden of the neighboring Cider
House, residence of the owner/hosts of Sarah's
Cottage. Three times each year the gardens are open
to the public under
Britain's National Gardens Scheme, normally
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accompanied with a Devonshire cream tea. An
area of the walled garden has been set aside for the use of tenants of
the Sarah's Cottage, with garden seats and lawns and flowers, and a seat
in the wall under an ancient apple tree where, it is said, the monks
came to meditate or rest from their labors. The remainder of the walled
garden grows organic fruit and vegetables and flowers for cutting, and
there is usually plenty to spare for visitors. There is also a hard
tennis court which may be used by guests. |
BUCKLAND ABBEY & SARAH'S COTTAGE
Photo © HOME AT FIRST |
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TAVY VALLEY SCENE
BY SARAH'S COTTAGE
Photo © HOME AT FIRST |
THE LOCATION:
The location of historic Buckland Abbey is just outside of southwestern Dartmoor
National Park near the border with Cornwall in scenic western Devon, England. It is about
12 miles from major road and rail connections at the city of Plymouth on the south coast
of England. The Dartmoor National Park is a wilderness preservation region offering
walking, golf, fishing, and riding, all easily reached from Sarah's Cottage. Its location
makes it a superb base from which to explore Devon and Cornwall. The town of Tavistock,
with its weekly craft and antique |
market, is eight miles
to the northwest. Groceries and other necessities can be found in the
village of Yelverton, three miles away from Sarah's Cottage.
There are good local pubs in the picture perfect Devonshire
hamlets of Milton Combe and Buckland Monachorum, both within two miles
of the cottage. Day trips throughout southwestern England,
including inland towns as far away as Exeter, Bath and
Salisbury (near Stonehenge), and coastal towns like Penzance, St.
Ives, Lands End, Clovelly, Torquay, and
Plymouth are easily accomplished from western Devon. |
THATCHED COTTAGES, BUCKLAND IN THE MOOR, DARTMOOR NATIONAL PARK
Photo © HOME AT FIRST |
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BEACHED FISHING BOATS AT LOW
TIDE
ON THE BRISTOL CHANNEL
NORTH COAST OF DEVON.
Photo © HOME AT FIRST |
ACTIVITIES: Sarah's
Cottage provides an ideal base
for discovering some of the best of English history, culture, and geography. Two
coastlines— one north along the Bristol Channel
west to the Atlantic, and one south along the English Channel—are within an hour or so of the cottage. Their beaches,
resorts towns, fishing villages, coves, walking paths, lighthouses, dramatic cliffs, and
magnificent headlands offer some of the finest coastal exploring in Britain. Devon's
largest municipality, Plymouth, is reached in under twenty minutes from Buckland Abbey.
From here the Pilgrims
set off for America, Sir Francis Drake |
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made the
world's oceans British lakes, and the Royal Navy continues to maintain a
presence. |
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POLPERRO FISHING VILLAGE
CORNWALL'S SOUTH COAST.
Photo courtesy britainonview
Daniel Bosworth |
TOURING DEVON & CORNWALL:
Inland, the sweeping high moorlands of Dartmoor National
Park dominate west central Devon and offer exemplary walking and touring in the wildest
parts of southern England. Between the coasts and the moorlands are a myriad of convoluted
valleys, each settled with ancient hamlets and villages, many featuring classic English
thatched cottages, pubs with great character, and restaurants with superb food and drink.
There are hundreds of activities and attractions we have not mentioned
— from steam
railways to D-Day monuments to eccentric museums to pony trekking.
A few minutes west of the cottage is the valley of
the River Tamar, the winding border with Cornwall and former home to a
large number of mining operations (copper, tin, and arsenic) until well
into the 20th century. Guests interested in exploring this important
corner of the Industrial Revolution can visit Morwellham Quay a relic
mining village on the Tamar now a |
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living museum. Further
west Cornwall becomes fertile farmland between two fascinating coasts
lined with beaches, fishing villages, sailing ports, sea cliffs,
headlands, and, ultimately, the southwestern corner of Britain: Land's
End. Lining both coasts are scenic long-distance hiking paths that
invite at least a few hours of strolling amid lonely, dramatic seascape.
Most importantly, we
think Devon and Cornwall offers visitors the opportunity to discover the traditional England of their
imagination, and the surprising England of the present.
THE
MAYFLOWER STEPS IN PLYMOUTH.
THE PILGRIMS DEPARTED HERE FOR
THE NEW WORLD IN SEPTEMBER 1620.
Photo
© HOME AT
FIRST |
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THE
THATCHED VILLAGE OF DUNSFORD
ON THE NE CORNER OF DARTMOOR. |
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AVAILABILITY:
For current availability information,
call
HOME AT FIRST
at
(800) 523-5842
or contact us
by e-mail at: info@homeatfirst.com
Note: This property is
HOME AT FIRST's highest-rated
West Country cottage by
annual guest review.
DOUBLE BEDROOM
AT SARAH'S COTTAGE
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