Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal

This is a place well known to us.

We have stayed here in Abbey Cottage, located just outside the West Gate, so many times that I've lost count. Once with both Matt and Andrew, and another two or three times with Andrew.
Probably, we've spent more than six months of our lives here! ...had several lots of visitors with their knees under our dining table here. We've had Joseph and Ali to stay with us here ...also Jack.

Always, always ...we've loved it all over again.
Such a joy to be a 'resident' and have a key to the gate! To let ourselves in when it is closed and empty of people!!

SUCH a beautiful place ... we've enjoyed it in the summer ...in the crispness of winter ...and now in the golden light of autumn.
We've fed the first white swan cygnets to be hatched in the water garden.

We've been the first steps to leave an imprint in newly fallen snow ....and we've seen our two boys (well - young men really) chase rabbits in the abbey ruins - and very nearly catching one!!!

It includes Fountains Abbey - now ruins.

The Abbey stands on the floor of the Skell Valley ...the River Skell running through it. (This was the waste disposal system for the community of monks!!) Don't panic!! They drank from the several fresh springs on the property!

And there's Fountains Hall ...west of the abbey, so just inside 'our' entrance. Built between 1598 and 1611 with stones from the ruined abbey. Very beautiful, and lived in till 1979!

There's also a Deer Park ...and St. Mary's Church (medieval Gothic in style).

...and the stunning 18th-century Water Garden. Within it are The Lake, Canals (upper and lower), The Cascade ...the Crescent Ponds ...and The Moon Pond (What a fabulous name!!). Also the Crescent Lake.

Several follies - for instance - Temple of Piety ...Octagon Tower.

There's the Rustic Bridge, and The Grotto. Just beautiful to walk around in ...and walk you certainly can - it goes on for ever!

And when we want a change, we can walk along the Seven Bridges Valley.

And the wildlife is varied and stunning, with deer, wild hares, squirrels, voles,  and a myriad of bird species, to name a few.

Studley Royal Park, including the ruins of Fountains Abbey, was designated a World Heritage Site in 1986.

The lives of many people have shaped the estate we now call Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal. Monks... labourers ...lords and ladies ...and kings.

Two estates came together when William Aislabie bought Fountains Hall and the ruins of Fountains Abbey, and joined them with Studley Royal, which he already owned. It was inherited by branches of the same family until upkeep became too difficult. Then, in the 1960s the local county council took it on.

It was acquired by the National Trust in 1983, with English Heritage maintaining the abbey ruins and St. Mary's church in the deer park.

This year we are enjoying the herb garden and the orchard attatched to Fountains Hall, and the newly restored summerhouse.
Wonder if and when this grand old house will once more be complete with tennis court!