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06/10/2016

An unexpected treat

I have recently been volunteering at a walled garden for the National Trust 
and apart from the personal and curative pleasure gardening has given me,
I found the solitude and large skies soothing and therapeutic.

I have been lucky enough to pause from weeding to watch a kestrel over head,
stood in silent awe at the ruthless and swift hunting methods of a stoat,
listened to sheep quietly grazing - their lambs now gone.
I have battled wind and rain and the resulting mud (I may have mentioned that already...)
I have sweated under unseasonably warm autumn skies
and - most unexpectedly been treated to - courtesy of the National Trust Yorkshire Dales

And 
it
WaS
AmAzInG!!!
We were given a talk and slide show on the history, 
a personal in-depth tour of the Abbey itself, 
popped into the Medieval Mill, 
sampled apples from their orchard, 
a walk and talk through the Abbey gardens, 
then guided through Studley Royals water Gardens, 
visited 'folly!' in the Banqueting House 
(my least favourite part of the day but still very interesting) 
then topped it off by walking around the deer reserve with two rangers 
who spoke very knowledgeably of their three herds (Sika, Fallow and  Red) 
We tracked the animals as the stags were showing pre-rut postures 
while the does and hinds gracefully paced around them.

It was a long but wonderful day - thank you 

PS I may have taken a gazillion photos but have only subjected you to a few, didn't want you to fall asleep!

7 comments:

  1. What a great opportunity. A win/win situation all round. Your photographs, as ever, are stunning. X

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  2. That place looks amazing
    Just to apologise for being very late with the scavenger hunt
    Julie xxxxxxx

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  3. It's many years since I last visited Fountain's Abbey and Studley Royal, your photos make me want to rectify that very soon. I've just been reading back through your previous posts and see that your son has just gone off to uni, my daughter has too, they'll both be having a ball. My son graduated this year.

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  4. Love Fountain's Abbey and the gorgeous water gardens. You were lucky to get the guided tours too. We have been twice and on the second occasion there was a display of Georgian dancing so there were many people dressed accordingly then we sat and watched the graceful dancing to the appropriate music. Lovely. Our South African friends were absolutely delighted.

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  5. Not sure I have been there... very naughty of me since we live so close to it. It looks very interesting and love your photos.

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  6. Breath taking!! So beautiful! The Abbey is just beautiful! Wish we lived closer. I enjoyed all the photos and in my opinion you can put many photos here and I will enjoy all of them! Wishing a wonderful weekend for us all!!

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Hi there...

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Hawthorn x

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