Thursday, August 13, 2015

Fountains Abbey and Ripley Castle

Foutains Abbey is a ruin…of an abbey…and that's about all we know.  We did zero research on this but it was clearly one of the big attractions of the area and it was surrounded by a beautify water garden called Studley Royal.  I think Studley Royal would make a great name for a popular prep school boy who rows crew and has madcap adventures. 
Anyway, what ever it was - we liked it.
Since Petey was traveling with us, we did a photo shoot. 




The walks around the grounds were beautiful.  They lured us up a steep hill through the woods for a surprised view called Anne Boleyn's Seat.  Surprise!!! Anne Boleyn was never there.  
It's a shame, really.  She missed a great view!


After lunch at the abbey we headed into Ripley.  I arrived just in time for the guided tour of the castle.  I was met with that old familiar sign - - No Photographs Please!  So you don't get to see the inside.  It's still a residence so you can only go into a portion of the house but it's got a long history.  The Inglby family has lived there for over 700 years.  King James I stayed there (and was "dripping with lice") and some of the family were involved in the gunpowder plot with Guy Fawkes.  
The tour was done quite well by a very theatrical woman.  I totally enjoyed it.  Bill, meanwhile, enjoyed his pint at the pub around the corner.
An abbey, a garden, and castle all in one day was enough to tire us out. We headed to our new bed and breakfast in Hutton-Le-Hole.