Fountains Abbey is just down the road from Ripon so off we jogged in the fine rain ... by car you'll appreciate at our time of life ...An amazing place and the size of the site has to be walked to appreciate how big the abbey was before Uncle Henry decided to have a spak-attack. The majesty of the place must have been mind blowing and it's all gone because an over sexed fat man couldn't get a divorce ...
Next to the abbey is St Mary's church - no longer used as such. I thought: Italian, pseuo-Ravenna, pre-reformation, Roman Catholic and definitely over done by someone with too much lucre to spare - but that means it's stunning inside. The Martians - joke - who built it even have a pseuo-Elizabethan tomb. You would wouldn't you when you're one of the Landed Hipocracy - sorry that should be Aristocracy (a simple mistake anyone could make ...) Oh yes, this is one of a pair of such Martian churches, but more of that another time.
The Studley Royal Water Gardens are worth a look even in the rain. The cafe even does a nice soup d'jour, toasted teacake and Yorkshire tea - what more could you want? On the humourous side: John Aislabie inherited the Studley Royal estate in 1693. He was chucked out of parliament in 1720 for the same sort of things our current MPs are up to - nothing really changes ...