Fountains Abbey

A day trip out today to Fountains Abbey.  The 139 bus takes just 15 minutes (free with a bus pass!!) and your bus ticket gets you half price entry so all in all not a bad deal.  The weather was ideal, sunny and warm but with some cloud which gave some respite from the sun when we were walking. 

The Abbey started with 13 Benedictine  monks but later became Cistercian . There were monks there for about 400 years and is a world heritage site. 

The grounds lead to the water gardens of Studely Royal which were majestic.  The house itself is no longer there as it burned down in 1946.  It had been a boarding school during the war and had just been refurbished for the owners to move back in when the fire occurred, but we couldn't find out the cause of the fire.  

St Marys Church, a late Victorian building stands in the grounds.  St Mary's Church was one of two, late Victorian, memorial churches in Yorkshire, built by the family of the First Marquess of Ripon in memory of Frederick Gratham Vyner who was murdered by Greek bandits in 1870

Barney accompanied us but dogs have to be strictly on a lead all the time so he was not allowed a good run in the vast grounds much to his dismay........

And so back to Petroc where our splendid isolation was no longer as 3 more boats had joined us.....there is only room for 4 on the moorings.