After a couple of days pottering around York it is now time to venture further afield, so a combination of train and bus took me to Ripon. As York Minster is closed all week, it was nice to have a wander around Ripon Cathedral to get a big church fix.
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| Ripon Cathedral |
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| The screen is adorned with painted statues |
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| Statue of James I on the screen |
From Ripon it is a short hop to Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, a large National Trust property that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Getting to Fountains Abbey by public transport is a bit tricky as the bus only runs on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays (Sundays in summer too) and there are only three of them each day. Having said that it is an easy well signposted walk from Ripon through the Studley Royal Deer Park so the best way to do it is to get a bus out there and then walk back at your leisure.
The site is one of two halves, the ruined Cistercian Fountains Abbey and the Studley Royal Water Gardens. Once one of the biggest and richest monasteries in the country, Fountains Abbey of course, fell foul of Henry VIII and the reformation. After being seized by the Crown it was sold to the Gresham family who plundered it for stone, timber and lead resulting in the abbey becoming a ruin.
Eventually the land the abbey is on was absorbed into the Studley Royal estate which is famous for its water gardens formed by damming and channelling the River Skell as it flows through the park. It was the River Skell that provided fresh water for the abbey and power for milling grain for both bread and ale production by the monks.
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| Folly on the Studley Royal Estate |
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| The Studley Royal Water Gardens |
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