A lovely stroll around the impressive grounds of Fountains Abbey, just a short walk from our front door. The history of the Abbey and adjoining Studley Park is fascinating. The Abbey came to be because monks in York disagreed over the comfortable lifestyle they were enjoying. Those wanting a simpler way of being retreated to the Skelldale and set up a modest wooden-framed abbey. Life was hard for their first winters there. They described the area as;

“… fit, rather, it seemed, to be the lair of wild beasts rather than the home of human beings, it’s name was Skelldale …”

… and it’s where we now reside!