history lesson

spent the day at fountains abbey and studley royal water garden; fresh air and something nice to look at - not a bad day to spend a hol. mobs of pheasants around as we walked down to the abbey - young ones bred for shooting that haven't gone far after being released we think.

fountains is lovely, one of the great norman abbeys of the north of england - and an object lesson in how good intentions can get left behind when business sense flourishes. roughly put: the monks began with the idea of being purer and devoting themselves to god, so hired people to work the land and so on for them. but the success of these enterprises meant the abbey became very rich and thus ripe for the picking by henry viii when he wanted to grab some cash and make a point to the church...

the water garden is part of the same estate, just walk through the abbey ruins and keep going and you'll find it; very nice. big restoration planned; i do hope they dredge the weed from the lake in front of the temple, that would improve the aesthetics no end! tho the grebe chicks we saw would probly be disappointed with fewer places to hide...

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harrogate show yesterday, btw