Boys Day Out at Buckland Abbey, Devon

Many years ago we were members of the National Trust but because at that time, we have very young children we cancelled as we found we were not able to us it as much as we wanted. Recently however, now our children are a bit older we decided to take out membership once again and I am very pleased we've done so!

This weekend the Mrs was busy and so i decided to take my youngest two out for the day. The eldest of my two younger sons had recently been to Buckland Abbey with his school and when I asked them what they wanted to do, this was the first thing they said.

Now I haven't been to Buckland Abbey for quite a few years but still remember being amazed at how good it was.

We set out mid morning and headed off to Buckland Abbey which is only a 10 minute drive for us. When we arrived i showed my membership card and off we went with the eldest of the two leading the way.

First we headed down to the massive barn, what a stunning building both inside and out. Just outside there are some smaller buildings which have some farm equipment which, being boys, they were happy to look at for a while.



From here we headed off round to the main entrance of the house. What a fantastic building inside and out. There are many rooms inside with lots of great features but unfortunately i didn't take any photos.



Both children were amazed by what they saw inside and the volunteers were very forthcoming with a plethora of information about the house and it's contents.

I also found out a few things that i never knew before. One of these, which i am compelled to write about is in reference to where the term "The Upper Crust" comes from in relation to the upper class of society. Apparently years ago when the staff made bread in the bread oven then would light the fire inside and when hot they would pull out all the embers and put the bread inside to cook. Once cooked they would remove the bread which would of course be covered in soot and dirt on the bottom from where it had been in contact with the base of the fire. Once removed the staff would cut the "upper crust" off which would be eaten by "them upstairs" and the staff would be left with the bottom dirty portion of the bread, hence the term Upper Crust.



After we'd walked around the house we went outside the garden and then on up to the restaurant where we had the compulsory pasty and sausage rolls.



I knew that there were a variety of walks around the area but didn't realise that the National Trust had also made a lovely woodland play area for children. Mine had a fantastic hour playing around on the variety of climbing equipment including the zip wire.





We all had a fantastic time and i explained to them both that because we were now members, we could come back to Buckland Abbey or to any other National Trust property whenever we wanted. I was slightly surprised but very pleased to hear them ask to come back again tomorrow!

A great day out for all the family, even though only half mine went today!