It is just over four years since our last visit to Fountains Abbey, situated on the outskirts of Ripon in North Yorkshire. I remember that visit well as it was the first time we took Meg and Gracie with us, both dogs were about 15 weeks old at that time and very much puppies.

Today, just as four years ago, we had Meg and Gracie with us on a return visit, and after parking the car in the main car park headed for the visitor’s centre. It was a cold, dry and crisp morning, the sun was trying to break through heavily laden cloudy sky. After passing through the centre we made our way along the footpath, past the children’s play area on the right and on past Swanley Grange also on our righthand side. The route to the abbey started to descend quite steeply until we reached the Porter’s Lodge at the bottom of the slope. From here the abbey becomes quite visible through the trees and is just a short distance away.

There has always been a long tradition of abbeys here in North Yorkshire and Fountains Abbey is possibly one of the most impressive in the County. The abbey is situated in a lovely setting alongside the valley of the River Skell, two miles west of the market town of Ripon. We stopped for a few minutes, firstly to capture our breath from the steep slope, and secondly to admire the view. Our route took us alongside of the abbey ruins, keeping the river on our righthand side, continuing alongside the river till the path bears to the left, here the river opens out and forms the Half-moon reservoir. On reaching the Rustic Bridge we continued left, the woodlands open up into the gardens of Studley Royal  we continued walking along the footpath adjacent to the Lower Canal, at the Drum Falls a clearing in the trees opens to beautiful views of the Temple of Piety, and the Crescent and Moon lakes. We spent a few more moments just admiring the view, the short, lush manicured lawns looked magnificent set against the Temple and woodland behind it. From here it is a relatively short walk to the small cafeteria where we stopped for tea and a scone, the weather being pleasant enough to allow us to sit outside and admire the view of Studley Lake. After our refreshment break, we ventured across the cascade foot bridge to the Temple of Piety and the lakes. Our route continued at ground level, past the Grotto and Half moon reservoir and followed the River Skell back to the ruins of the Abbey.  The Abbey, Britain’s largest monastic ruin, was founded in 1132 by thirteen Benedictine monks from St Mary’s Abbey in York seeking a simpler life, who later became Cistercian monks. The abbey was named Fountains Abbey because of the springs of water that existed in the area. After admiring the daffodils around the ruins, we headed back up the hill to the visitor’s centre and back to the car for the journey home. The end of a lovely day out.