Hartland Abbey

Henry VIII gave the dissolved abbey to William Abbott, his Sergeant of the Wine Cellar, in 1539, and it has passed by descent ever since — through three heiresses and several family names, without once being sold — to Sir Hugh and Lady Stucley, whose family live there today. Visitors get the Victorian-Gothic house from two o'clock, the gardens and grounds from eleven, and a walk down the valley to the family's own stretch of beach, Sundays to Thursdays from late March to the start of October. In 2026 the abbey marks forty years of opening its doors to the public — a private house, programmed by the people who actually live in it.