








In mid-March, with the sun streaming through my office window, my thoughts turn from the dreadful winter at the Abbey to, hopefully, brighter times ahead. But firstly I want to sincerely thank our wonderful team who literally saved so much in the Abbey from the dreadful flood of Storm Bert on 23/24th November 2024. The Abbey valley was so badly flooded that the water was too much for the bridges and had nowhere to go leaving the downstair passage a foot underwater. We were away for the night so it fell to poor Max and Andy to rescue ancient documents, the exhibitions, the shop and tea rooms from the muddy water. They were helped by kind neighbours and Chris and Dick and his family, Nigel, Jonathan and Sam. But the cleaning up operation was horrendous and it took ages for the Abbey to dry out. Deep freezes and fridges were full of mud and never recovered. Max and Andy bore the brunt of all this and we have nothing but huge thanks for all their hard work. Poor Nigel, our gardener, was met by torrents of water coming down the middle of the Walled Gardens and spent the next weeks clearing the damage. He took extraordinary photographs but they are all moving ones so not able to be shown here.
Two weeks later, to the day, another storm, Darragh, hit us full on bringing a huge beech tree and the lovely old wild cherry down onto all our recently planted rhododendrons and azaleas in the Shrubbery, smashing some to bits. They were particularly special as they were bred by Nigel Wright, a lovely man who lived locally and in his retirement produced the most wonderful plants; sadly he is no longer alive. Four days with no electricity followed the storm which brought more problems…. Then another huge tree down in the Bog Garden. Leighton and Andy have never had so much chainsawing to do though we will never run out of logs! So sadly this winter we have been desperately clearing up and have been unable to go forward with many new projects. But we must always try and look on the bright side! My husband was 8o in January and our children generously gave him some lovely new plants from Burncoose which we hope will flower before we are too old! Sadly one of the big tree rhododendrons we lost was presented to my husband when he retired as Wessex Chairman of the Historic Houses association.
2024 had started with excavating a wonderful monastic drain on the lawn which had collapsed. It was fascinating to see such beautiful stonework from 12thC but it had to be filled in again quickly so Malory Towers girls could play lacrosse safely on the lawn! After the Directors’ recce in early May, the production returned to start filming at the end of May. It was an emotional time as it would be the last summer altogether filming series 6. King Bert, the production company, with WildBrain, their Canadian partners, have been the most incredible people to work with and have filmed in the house and gardens for a couple of months each summer, for five years. Never a cross word! We will all miss each other but have made lasting friendships. ‘Malory Towers’ has become incredibly popular and many lovely families bring their children to see where it was filmed. We are preparing masses more pictures and props for children to see, some of which will be on show for Daffodil Day! We love to see Malory Towers fans and their families, and often their dogs too! Hartland Abbey will forever be ‘Malory Towers’ and will become part of the Abbey’s history.
We were kindly given a small grant by the AONB in the summer to repair the monastic river wall which had been eroded over the years. Thanks to Leighton, our grandson Thomas, Chris and Dick they did a fantastic job helped by John Dart with his digger. Their new wall, built with the old stone, withstood the flood in November thankfully!
We had a very proud moment at the Devon County Show in May when Leighton Jeffery who has worked at the Abbey since he was 15 received a Long Service Award from the President, Michael Caine. Leighton has worked tirelessly for 59 years and for the most part has maintained the roof and absolutely everything else unaided. Only lately has he been helped and now is invaluable clearing fallen trees, painting railings and maintaining the holiday cottages. We give him our heartfelt thanks. Also receiving their awards were Graham Butt (52 years) and Trevor Reynolds (48 years) who have worked on the farm at Affeton for us for all this time and are still working to the highest standard, We thank them for all their support to us.
In the autumn the present Lord and Lady Poltimore (Mark and Sally) kindly gave us his ancestors’ portraits to hang in the Abbey. Mark and my husband share Poltimore ancestors. The pictures badly needed cleaning but are now back hanging on the Front Stairs. Interestingly portraits of the 2nd Lord Poltimore, Augustus Bampfylde, are already hanging in the Abbey. One is of him as a baby in arms and the other as a slightly older child with his dog and are now joined by him as a much older man.
We open for Daffodil Day on 16th March. The daffodils this year are not brilliant but there are plenty to see. The orchard looks wonderful with the wild daffodils flowering profusely. It is a lovely time to get out in the fresh air with family and dogs. The camellias are looking stunning and the Walled Garden is full of primroses and the clematis armandii filling the air with scent. Easter is much later this year and we open for the season on March 30th. Easter Bunny Hunts at Easter are fun for families!
We mended the Summerhouse last spring as it was in jeopardy but now it is a lovely place to sit in the sun and enjoy the garden! We had hoped to restore more of the greenhouses this winter but all the time and money has been spent on clearing up from the gales and on tree surgeons making sure existing trees were safe.
We are looking forward to seeing the next series of Malory Towers on BBC iPlayer soon and the much awaited ‘The Salt Path’, of which a scene filmed at Blackpool Mill, very soon in cinemas.
My husband has just had a new knee. He is coming on really well. We managed to deadhead most of the hydrangeas in January before he went to hospital but a few still need attention. We haven’t been able to garden at all since his operation but hopefully will be able to again soon! It is very frustrating for him and I have had so many other jobs to do. Sadly I don’t think he will be able to do the car parking on Daffodil Day but I bet he will have a try!
We hope for good weather for our visitors and hopefully the house and gardens will look lovely and will be a peaceful place to visit. We look forward to seeing our visitors and hope a visit to Hartland Abbey will be enjoyable. Everyone here has worked so hard to get the house and gardens back from the floods and the gales. We are so grateful. We look forward too to seeing our wonderful team of house stewards back again. There will be so much to catch up on after not seeing each other much in the winter! They do so much to make our visitors welcome. And last but not least, Jo and Kath in the Tearoom who make the most scrumptious scones and cakes imaginable! Angela Stucley March 2025









