Monastery 'gap year': tune out and turn off You expect silence in monasteries. In fact, it's this that will attract young people, who are fed up with the constant noise of their hi-tech world. At Downside, the guest master issued a warning to us: "When a monk has his hood up, don't disturb him, because it means he's praying." The monks even observed silence during meals, apart from the odd, whispered, "Oi, don't hog all the cream." It was bliss. But the work came as the biggest surprise. When their hoods are down, monks are often tilling the fields, beekeeping or scrubbing the cloister floors. "Pray and work" is the Benedictine motto, and they really mean it. This week, for instance, Ampleforth Abbey, in North Yorkshire, announced that it is going to start producing the first monastic beer since the Reformation. Another Benedictine abbey, Buckfast, is famous for its cheap tonic wine. Striving to produce booze is what keeps many monks busy now that they are not copying out manuscripts, as their medieval predecessors did. This is exactly the mix - silence and old-fashioned graft - that will draw applications to Quarr Abbey's scheme. Youngsters find that, as the British writer Pico Iyer says, "the more ways we have to connect, the more many of us seem desperate to unplug." That's what explains the rise of "black hole" holiday resorts, where you go to escape the internet, television and 24-hour news. It also accounts for the trend of the "digital sabbath," a day in the week when you switch off your MacBook and your iPhone for sheer relief. In the noisy digital age, we long for havens of lo-tech peace and quiet. The monks of Quarr, it seems, are wise to it.