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The weather forecast was looking good for Sunday (11th) so we arranged to drive south down the A1 to Ripon and meet up with our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal
"A World Heritage Site, set in 323 hectares (800 acres) of beautiful countryside, offering an unparalleled opportunity to appreciate the range of England's heritage".
We parked at the West gate as this is where the Disabled Spaces (plenty of them) are located. There are a variety of walks of varying lengths that can be tackled on the whole estate (owned by the National Trust) but, we decided to just keep to the most straightforward of these. I was in the wheelchair and our granddaughter in her pushchair
The weather was sunny but chilly and there were a lot of people, particularly families, all making the most of such a lovely day.
In 1132, a small group of monks from the Benedictine Abbey in York and one from Whitby left their abbeys to begin a more strict way of monastic life of the Cistercian order. They were taken in by the Archbishop of Ripon who was sympathetic to their cause. However, he found the monks were a strain on his resources and gave them a piece of land by the River Skell on which to build their new abbey called Fountains. It was described as a place of desolation situated between steep cliffs and rocks, more suited as a retreat for wild beasts than humans
Over 400 years later, when Henry VIII demanded the closure of the Abbey, the monks left behind what has now become the most complete Cistercian abbey remains in the country.
After having eaten our lunch at the tearooms by Fountains Mill we set off on the path on the left of the Abbey heading towards Studley Royal Water Garden. The path passes close to the Abbey and undulates through the woodland that forms part of the Studley Estate.
"Studley Royal Water Garden was a breathtaking vision of John Aislabie and his son William."
In the early 18th-century John Aislabie had great plans to impress visitors to his Yorkshire estate and so turned the wild and wooded valley of the river Skell into one of England’s most spectacular Georgian water gardens.
Inspired by the work of the great French landscape gardeners, the two gifted amateurs created the Water Garden with its formal, geometric design and extraordinary vistas; including the much photographed Temple of Piety
We then reached the Studley Royal entrance and, surprise surprise, we stopped at the tearooms there for a cup of tea and cake
After that we set off on the return journey on the other side of the valley. This meant crossing a narrow wooden bridge at the end of the Water Gardens which caused a few worrying moments as the wheelchair got stuck on it
Not to worry though, having recently endured several far worse situations whilst in Scotland, this was a piece of cake
The path on this side of the valley was also, not so good for the wheelchair but, manageable!
There were lots of beautiful autumnal colours on both sides of the valley.
Towards the end of this section I had to get out and walk up a steep slope but this meant, at least, I benefitted from a bit of exercise
An excellent day out and, such a good job I remembered the blanket to put over my legs as the temperature dropped considerably once the sun had gone in
