Today was a bit of a freebie day for me, a free day off work for Hitachi Founders Day. Just a bit of a bonus for us Hitachi employees. So what to do?
Well a few weeks ago we'd talked about heading north to Fountains Abbey, but in the end the weather and the fact that it was deep within the kids holidays put us off. So although it was forecast to be grey and dull today, and it did drizzle on and off for most of the day, we decided to head up the A1.
We arrived at the historic site a few miles west of Ripon at a little after 10:30am. The first ports of call were Fountains Hall where to be honest you only get to see a few rooms but it is an impressive building, and then Fountains Mill where the monks used to grind their grain for making bread and ale. You can see the waterwheel still in action there, although no longer grinding grain as you might have guessed.
As we walked over towards the abbey it started to rain, so after taking shelter under a tree for a while, and seeing how busy the area was, we took the path alongside the abbey, saving the ruins for later in the day.
The walk along the edges of the water gardens allowed us to take in the art installations that have been set up for a period of time, ok they won't be to everyone's taste but do add a bit of colour on a dull day.
We continued down to the lake where we took a seat for a hot drink, and just enjoyed the views out over the lake with the brooding skies in the distance. It was now time to go a little 'off piste' as we followed the path down the River Skell, with the seven bridges that cross what is now a dried up riverbed. A nice quite stretch.
Our walk headed north to Downing House Farm where we then took the main route up Ripon Rowell Walk, to the church and obelisk. We spent a little time enjoying the area, particularly the Red Deer herds out in the grasses beyond.
Our next stop off was back at the visitor centre as we were both now needing 'relief' if you know what I mean. After our break we headed back downhill to the abbey which was by now much quieter. Many of the kids that had been running around the ruins earlier, had left so we had more time to take in the ruins. By the time we set off home it was close to 5pm, so now just the hour and a half drive back home. A very enjoyable day was had by all, with the bonus of having covered over 8.5 miles.
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