There and Back

Another beautiful spot we visited was Yorkshire Lavender, a 60-acre hillside farm featuring lavender gardens, specialist plant shop and a sculpture park. The patterns formed by the Lavender were just waiting to be photographed.  A great place to visit with it`s herbs and other plants. To cap it all, a great place to have a mid morning coffee and cake. What more could you want.  I know, more ruins! The ruins of Kirkham Priory are situated on the banks of the River Derwent, at Kirkham, North Yorkshire, England.  The Augustinian priory was founded in the 1120s by Walter l'Espec, lord of nearby Helmsley, who also built Rievaulx Abbey. Legend has it that Kirkham was founded in remembrance of l'Espec's only son who had died nearby as a consequence of his horse being startled by a boar. The area was later used to test the D-Day landing vehicles. The ruins are now Grade I listed and in the care of English Heritage.  The Gatehou...

Anglesey Abbey is a great place to visit and is very family orientated as well. A community of Augustinian canons built a priory here, known as Anglesea or Anglesey Priory, some time during the reign of Henry I (i.e., between 1100 and 1135), and acquired extra land from the nearby village of Bottisham in 1279. The canons were expelled in 1535 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The former priory was acquired around 1600 by Thomas Hobson, who converted it to a country house for his son-in-law, Thomas Parker, retaining a few arches from the original priory. At that time the building's name was changed to "Anglesey Abbey", which sounded grander than the original "Anglesey Priory". Further alterations to the building were carried out in 1861. Now it is a beautiful garden to visit, owned by the National Trust, and well worth spending the day here.  Heading toward the winter garden first, we encounter thes beautiful `touchable` trees Yo...

We visited here while based in a log cabin in Sherwood. We were mainly looking for different fungi on this trip, so this visit combined an historic site, with some fungi hunting. The former Augustinian abbey once belonged to Lord Byron and now has a Mixed Style romantic nineteenth century garden. The priory of St. Mary of Newstead, a house of Augustinian Canons, was founded by King Henry II of England about the year 1170, as one of many penances he paid following the murder of Thomas Becket. Contrary to its current name, Newstead was never an abbey: it was a priory. In the late 13th century, the priory was rebuilt and extended. It was extended again in the 15th-century, when the Dorter (A bedroom or dormitory, especially in a monastery.), Great Hall and Prior's Lodgings were added. The priory was designed to be home to at least 13 monks, although there appears to have been only 12 (including the Prior) at the time of the dissolution. The Valor Ecclesiasticus o...