Fountains Abbey - 2nd August

Fountains Abbey and grounds in North Yorkshire take a while to get around but it is worth the effort.

This is the largest monastic ruin in the UK. It was founded in 1132 and there is an interesting display in one of the smaller buildings about it's history and that of the Cistercian monks.

The walk from the abbey to the Georgian gardens is pleasant. We watched dogs roaming and swimming. It's quite a contrast between the two sections of the estate and is quite cleverly laid out.

There was an interesting Medieval re-enactment going on in the abbey grounds which added quite considerably to our time there. We watched a shooting display using bows and arrows and early guns. There was much to see in the tents and it was fun seeing the children from the re-enactment running around the ruins.

Within the buildings themselves was a group of actors doing a comedy of some kind.

We had to walk down into the abbey grounds which means ...... hiking back up at the end :)