"The Abbey is so accessible, it was so wonderful to see. The lift and ramp are all in keeping with the appearance of the abbey."
"The whole grounds are fully accessible for a power wheelchair, with lots of different kinds of paths."
"The grounds and gardens are immaculate and well looked after."
"Beautiful, peaceful gardens with little secret havens like the Lavender Garden."
"The Abbey Church is a very impressive site."
"The grounds are immaculately kept and there is a lavender garden which emits gorgeous aromas."
"The gardens are beautiful and the interactive exhibits in the information centre are incredible."
Cons:
"There wasn't much happening on our visit but it was a rainy February day."
"Ended up here at the end of the day so everything bar the actual abbey was closed."
"None of the shops were open except for the coffee shop."
"Small site with a few garden areas, some of which looking a bit forlorn."
"The gardens aren't as I was expecting more of a small space for quiet reflection."
"While winter has its own beauty, it does limit enjoyment of the grounds and gardens."
"We tried to take a wheelchair into one of the gardens that had a newly laid path. We couldn't push it as the path was made up of tiny stones and the wheelchair just sank into the path."
Restaurant and Cafe
Pros:
"Lovely restaurant. Reasonable prices and variety of hot food, cold food and desserts."
"Facilities providing great quality food at good prices, a nice bonus!"
"The cafe has a wide range of delicious food and fair prices."
"The Abbey restaurant serves very high quality food."
"The restaurant provides a very good selection of extremely tasty food both hot and cold meals, snacks and drinks served by very friendly staff."
"The restaurant served the most delicious hand prepared food of great quality."
"The restaurant is fabulous and excellent value for money."
Cons:
"The disappointment for me was the restaurant. None of the cakes were priced and not a cream tea in sight."
"The cafe/restaurant was chaotic to be honest."
"The cafe left a little to be desired, I think it was quite expensive for what you got."
"The food at the restaurant was a bit over priced and the portions small."
"Very little to choose from sandwiches, cakes or pasties No salad No cooked meals."
"The cafe that used to have quality produce is now a pale imitation and some of the staff are not friendly towards customers."
"There is a restaurant onside called The Grange, but I would get a second mortgage if I were you as it's very pricey."
Accessibility and Facilities
Pros:
"Entry and parking are both free, the only charge is to go into The Monastic Way, an exhibition of the Benedictine monastic way of life."
"On site is a free car park, well laid out with a lot of room including for coaches."
"All parts are wheelchair friendly with a slight slope to negotiate."
"Free parking and easy access, good place to stop off for an hour or so."
"Free parking, toilet & disabled facilities."
"Car parking is free and so is access to the gardens and the Abbey all of which are wheelchair and buggy friendly."
"Free entry and free car parking."
Cons:
"Parking difficult as it gets VERY busy especially on a Sunday."
"Why have you become so awkward with coaches coming in."
"Unfortunately, we missed the exhibition, which closed at 3:30, so arrive before then if you wish to see it."
"It looked as if that would close soon as well."
"Shame the new window was closed for viewing as I wanted to see that."
"I wouldn’t visit on a Sunday because it will probably be packed with worshippers."
"No monks visible."
Staff and Service
Pros:
"Staff in and around the building were so pleasant and helpful."
"The staff are polite and courteous and the cafe is really lovely."
"Staff all round, both in the cafe and in the shop were very friendly and welcoming."
"Very polite and friendly staff, not just to visitors but even between each other I noticed."
"All staff were lovely, knowledgeable and nothing was too much."
"All the serving staff really friendly and jolly."
"Staff are friendly and helpful."
Cons:
"The woman in the shop was miserable but St Paul forgives her."
"Staff looked very stressed out."
"Shame time was severely curtailed as there was a service taking place when our coach arrived."
"The cafe that used to have quality produce is now a pale imitation and some of the staff are not friendly towards customers."
"The abbey was nice but it felt like you were being noisy just by breathing."
"It was disappointing, but not unexpected, that the primary focus was on philanthropic work rather than the Apostolic calling of 'preaching Christ crucified and raised from the dead'."
"A regular once a year visit to pay respect to past family members and relax on a peaceful setting. However successive concessions to dog owners mean this is no longer the case."
Shops and Shopping
Pros:
"The book shop is great, they have all the books on every Religion."
"The two shops have an array of items you might like to buy at prices that aren't too expensive."
"They also have a nice range of handmade gifts, local trades and food and beverages from the Abbey and various other Abbeys in their shop."
"The gift shop had loads in it."
"The shop has a great selection of items from the Abbey and others around the world."
"The gift shop shelves were full of momentous at reasonable prices."
"Two very nice separate shops filled with Monastic produce, books, high quality Glassware and of course the fantastic Buckfast Tonic Wine."
Cons:
"A tiny underwhelming shop I remember it being a beautiful big shop with a large variety of memorabilia."
"The shop that used to sell many items from monasteries around the world has been decimated and even the newer shop by the entrance is a shadow of its former self."
"The only real disappointment is the closure of the book shop and the replacement of the monastic shop with a plant centre."
"The shop was slightly disappointing with expensive, foreign health-food items."
"I do feel the prices in the gift shop could be lower though, we brought less than we would have as I balked at a lot of the prices."
"There is hardly anything and those items averagely swallowed up by 'souvenirs'."
"It was disappointing, but not unexpected, that the primary focus was on philanthropic work rather than the Apostolic calling of 'preaching Christ crucified and raised from the dead'."