Retreat: Meditations From a Monastery: Downside Abbey

Series which goes in search of inner peace in three Benedictine monasteries around Britain, and provides a welcome retreat from the hectic pace of our daily lives. The monks live largely in silence, and in the tradition of Slow TV the programmes have no commentary or background music to interfere with the peace. The first film is set in Downside, a spectacular neo-gothic monastery set in the beautiful valleys of Somerset. It is home to fourteen Benedictine monks who live according to the 6th-century Rule of St Benedict. We follow two of the monks over the course of a typical, quiet monastic day, as they engage with carpentry and baking, religious services and moments of private prayer in the monastery gardens.