Day Three in the Yorkshire Dales and The Lake District

Another big day in the UK.  I cannot believe we were in York only this morning.  I have seen so much today and we have travelled through so many changes in landscape and architecture.

This morning we visited Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire near Ripon.  This was one of the richest monasteries in the country, having been established by Cistercian monks in 1132.  It was dissolved by King Hnery VIII and fell into ruin.  Wow, this is now a World Heritage listed site.  It was amazing to see the size and scale of the original Abbey and its outbuildings.  What an enormous undertaking to construct these huge buildings so long ago.

We also spotted some local wildlife here.

We then drove through the most amazing scenery in James Herriott territory, the Yorkshire Dales. This rugged, beautiful section of England is so picturesque with its dry stone walls, grazing sheep and cows and stone buildings.  The scary thing was the roads, so narrow and barely enough room to pass oncoming traffic!  Thanks for the driving, Tracey.  "Here comes a bus, I will just drive on the footpath".

We drove through to the Lake District to visit Dove Cottage, the home of the poet William Wordsworth and his family at the turn of the nineteenth century.  Here I am outside the cottage.  We enjoyed a wonderful tour of the rooms and the museum.

The house included many of the possessions of the Wordsworth family, including the sewing box belonging to William's daughter, Dora.

The small four poster bed in the main bedroom upstairs was decorated in a local appliqué quilt of the same vintage.  How great was that?

                            

We are staying two nights in a quaint Hotel near Grasmere.  I am looking forward to seeing the Hill Top farm tomorrow, the former home of Beatrix Potter.