the Buckfast Abbey honey

The Buckfast Abbey honey is a jar of honey that Harold Fry purchases at the monastery shop during his pilgrimage, intending it as one of the gifts for Queenie Hennessy. It is a small, seemingly ordinary object that nonetheless becomes a recurring measure of his journey's fragility and his commitment. The honey appears at key moments of crisis and decision, and its survival through Harold's trials marks it as a symbol of the faith and giving that define his walk north to Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Purchase and First Significance

Harold arrives at Buckfast Abbey before the gift shop closes, drawn by the square limestone profile of the church standing grey against the soft peaks behind. He realizes he has come here before, many years ago, as a surprise for Maureen's birthday, when David refused to get out of the car and they went straight home without setting foot out of the car park. In the monastery shop, Harold chooses postcards and a souvenir pen, and briefly contemplates buying a jar of the monks' honey, but hesitates because it is still a long way to Berwick-upon-Tweed and he is not sure it will fit in his plastic bag, or survive the journey without the washing powder getting at it. He buys it anyway and asks for extra bubble wrap. There are no monks, only tourist parties, and more people queuing for the newly refurbished Grange Restaurant than the abbey; Harold wonders if the monks notice, or mind. The honey thus enters his possession as a deliberate act of faith, purchased despite his practical doubts about its survival.

The Honey in Crisis

When Harold collapses on the road, his first panicked thought is for the honey. He asks, more panicky, whether the pot of honey is still in one piece, and the woman who finds him nods and reaches for his pulse. She is young, with a scraped-back look, and her jogging trousers and sweatshirt hang from her body, suggesting they belong to someone else, a man perhaps. Harold insists he does not need a doctor, whispering hoarsely that she should not call an ambulance or a doctor. The honey's survival in this moment of physical breakdown becomes a small proof that his mission might also survive. His concern for the jar, rather than for his own body, reveals how much of his hope is invested in the objects he carries for Queenie.

Rewrapping and Renunciation

Later, as Harold walks through the Cotswolds, he reaches a profound understanding of his journey. He sees that when a person becomes estranged from the things they know, and is a passer-by, strange things take on a new significance, and it seems important to allow himself to be true to the instincts that make him Harold, as opposed to anyone else. In Cheltenham, he begins to shed his possessions, donating his washing powder to a student, his wind-up torch to a woman from Prestbury, his plasters and antiseptic cream to the mother of a distressed child, and his comb by way of distraction. He hands the guide to Britain to a bewildered German couple lost near Cleeve Hill, and suggests they might like the plant dictionary too, since he knows it by heart. Then he rewraps the gifts for Queenie: the pot of honey, the rose quartz, the glittering paperweight, the Roman key ring and the wool hat. He parcels up the recent souvenirs for Maureen and takes them to a post office, but the compass and the rucksack he keeps, because they are not his to give away. The honey, rewrapped with care, is preserved as one of the few things he will not renounce, a gift that must reach its intended recipient.

The Honey and the Pilgrims

The honey stands in quiet contrast to the commercialism that later surrounds Harold's walk. After his story is reported in the Coventry Telegraph, the media seize on it, and the walk becomes the theme of Thought for the Day on Radio 4, spawning leading articles about the nature of the modern pilgrimage, quintessential England, and the pluck of the Saga generation. Rich Lion, who joins the pilgrims, arranges for official walkers to receive T-shirts with the word PILGRIM on the front and back, provided by the distributors of a health drink, available in white and in three sizes. Kate scoffs at the white T-shirts, asking where they are going to wash them, but Rich insists that white stands out and its image is pure. The honey, by contrast, is a handmade product of the monks, bought with Harold's own money and carried in his plastic bag, a gift of substance rather than spectacle. When the pilgrims finally arrive in Berwick-upon-Tweed, there are photographs of Rich Lion walking hand in hand with his two sons along the quay, a brass band, a performance by the local cheerleading troupe, and a dinner attended by local councillors and businessmen, with talk of a film. The honey never appears in any of this publicity; it remains a private object, known only to Harold and, eventually, to Queenie.

The Honey as a Measure of Faith

Throughout the journey, the honey functions as a tangible proof of Harold's promise. His faith, such as it is, is a fragile thing, and the honey is one of the few objects he refuses to give away, even as he sheds everything else. It is tied to the feeling that inspired him in the first place, the conviction that if he keeps putting one foot in front of the other, he will get to Berwick. The honey's survival, through his collapse and his renunciation of possessions, mirrors the survival of his own resolve. It is also a gift of giving itself: Harold buys it despite his doubts, carries it despite its weight, and protects it despite the risk of breakage. In this way, the Buckfast Abbey honey becomes more than a souvenir; it is a small, sweet emblem of the faith that carries him north, and of the love he hopes to deliver along with it.