British Isles #2: Fountains Abbey

Fountains Abbey is a ruined Cistercian abbey from the 12th century near Ripon, England (a town familiar to Downton Abbey fans). There are many ruined buildings around the abbey that were once part of the monastic community including a Cistercian corn mill. The grounds are expansive (800 acres) and well maintained. There are many things to see here of which we saw only a few. After a short walk through woodland, trees thin and the enormous ruins rise up from a valley. The scale of these ruins were so incredible and remained the largest that we saw during the remainder of our trip. Pheasants pecked the green lawn as we wove our way through the columns and arches.  The architecture and setting of these ruins are stunning. To add to our pleasure it was not raining and there very few people visiting the site. Also, the folks at the ticket counter let us in free of charge because we had Scottish Heritage passes though we were only supposed to receive a discount. (It had one of the better gift shops as well).

I spy in the great cloister....

Nave

160 ft. Tower