So we were back from the Lakes and we had a week away from proper walking and instead headed for a bit of culture, and a bimble around a small town on the southern edge of Dartmoor. Buckfastleigh is a nice little town with two churches (or one church and one Abbey to be precise), but they are at opposite ends when it comes to their condition. Holy Trinity (the church on the hill) was the parish church, it may have links back to Saxon times, but there was definitely a church there in 1263 when its first vicar was appointed by the Abbey below. In 1992 a huge fire tore through the building, believed to be an arson attack. The shell of the church stands still on the hill, the bells rehung and tower repaired, but the soul of the church was gone. Below Holy Trinity sits Buckfast Abbey, an abbey has been on this site since 1018, until the dissolution in 1539 when it was destroyed. The new building was constructed in the early 1900s and finished in 1938, so a recent building and is now home to Benedictine monks, who produce the famous Buckfast tonic wine, shipped in the thousands of bottles to Scotland! Its a lovely serene building, not too busy on our visit and we moved slowly around and enjoyed the quiet. So a gentle reintroduction for us into Dartmoor walking, and as the daylight get shorter with each passing week we are looking now for shorter walks to fit in the time we have.