Route: Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal
Area: North Yorkshire
Date of walk: 15th October 2016
Walkers: Andrew and Gilly
Distance: 6.1 miles
Weather: Mostly overcast
There are three major attractions at Fountains Abbey: the ruins of the Cistercian abbey itself, the beautiful Georgian water garden, and the medieval deer park
We parked at the visitor centre and decided to walk to the deer park first. The rutting season takes place in October and November and now is a good time to visit. We entered into the rolling parkland and within a few minutes had our first sighting of a herd of red deer. As we continued to make our way around the park we had numerous sightings of other herds of red, fallow and sika deer – the park is home to three of the six native species. We didn’t see any rutting behaviour but we could clearly hear the bellowing of red deer stags in the distance
After leaving the deer park we entered the water garden at the lakeside and strolled past the water features before climbing up to Anne Boleyn’s Seat and Surprise View. We then descended through the woodland to visit the abbey, with its well preserved Cistercian remains – the most complete in the country
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It’s a 10 minute stroll from the main car park to the entrance to Studley Royal deer park
Within a couple of minutes we have our first sighting of a herd of red deer
We kept to the marked paths so as not to disturb the deer - I used a long telephoto lens for the deer photos
We walk past St Mary’s Church
More red deer…
Fallow deer
We leave the deer park following the road to The Lake
We cross the bridge over the River Skell
St Mary’s Church again, seen across The Lake
Approaching the Water Garden
The Temple of Piety…
After a short climb above the Water Garden we walk through the Serpentine Tunnel
View over the Water Garden from the Octagon Tower just beyond the end of the tunnel
Further along, a glimpse of Fountains Abbey from Surprise View
After descending from Surprise View we arrive back at the bank of the River Skell
We follow the riverbank towards the abbey…
We cross over the river to explore the ruins of the abbey…
A last look back to the abbey as we reluctantly head for the exit of this magical place
