Regular readers will know that we were on our hols in Yorkshire a few weeks back. We stayed in a lovely barn conversion just outside Thirsk, which was the perfect base to explore lots of wonderful places.

First of all, we headed west to Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal Water Gardens near Ripon. We have some very good friends who live up in Newcastle and we had arranged to meet up with them while we were staying “up north” and Fountains Abbey seemed like the perfect place. It is a National Trust place which is perfect for us as we have membership and it is huge too which means lots to see and do to keep the kiddies entertained!

We started out at the West Gate which is nearest the Abbey itself. It is not the main entrance but friend is heavily pregnant so I wasn’t sure how far she would want to walk, as it was she was fine but it was still a good place to start.

The Abbey is incredible and ginormous! It is so sad to think that the abbeys are ruined by choice. After being basically bankrupted, monks were forced to leave the abbey, and then the monarchs ordered the roofs to be removed so that they could never return and the abbey fell into ruin.

It was a beautiful sunny day, though pretty freezing at the same time unfortunately. We all had a great time exploring the ruins, then when it was time to feed LM we got out the bubble wands and let the boys run around in the sunshine chasing the bubbles.

We then had a lovely wander, following the stream towards the Studley Royal Water Gardens which was created in the 1700s. They really are magnificent and beautiful and a lovely place to explore.

After a little picnic we carried on all the way to the lake at the opposite end, where we saw a Swan’s nest!

By this point we were all so cold and very happy to see a nice little tearoom where we could go to get warmed up. It was really lovely and I have to say they had the nicest baby change room I have ever been in. Even after a bit of cake both toddlers were getting a little tired by this point from all of the running around and exploring, so we started the long walk back towards the abbey and our cars.

We had a lovely lovely day exploring both the Abbey and the Water Gardens, but there still bits that we didn’t get to see so we will definitely return one day to see more. It was a great place to go and visit with so much to see, and the perfect spot for us to meet our friends.

Have you been?