For my day out in October, I was trying to think how I could tie it in to Halloween. I have to be a bit careful about this, because I have a terror of mannequins, and my absolute nightmare would be to go to a museum and find that they've gone wild on the waxworks. In the end, I hit on the idea of Fountains Abbey. It's an interesting place on its own, being the ruins of a monastery that good old Henry VIII decided to do away with on his rampage through Britain. The grounds also contain an interesting hall, an old mill, and some lovely walks to see some temples and statues round lakes and water features. In terms of Halloween connections, it is where Damien Thorn finally gets his comeuppance at the end of The Omen 3. Sam Neill's version of the anti-Christ is last seen stabbed to death at the Chapel of the Nine Altars in the ruins of the abbey. As someone who loves The Omen series, and will argue the case for the much maligned third part, this was right up my street.
As I discovered when I went to Beamish, the A1 is absolutely a contender for the most boring road to drive on, so naturally I was delighted when I realised that I was going to spend some time on there to get to Fountains Abbey. However, at least it was an easy drive, and I reached the carpark at about 10:30, which was pretty much an ideal time. By the time I'd gone through the ticket office and had a walk through the field to Fountains Hall, it was just opening at 11am. The hall is interesting as it is set up to show the home through time, showcasing the different families that have lived there. It isn't very big, but the rooms that you can go in are absolutely themed perfectly to a specific time period and set of owners. For example, the family that lived there in the middle of the 20th century have their front room set up playing the announcement of the outbreak of war on the wireless, and photos of them on their mid-century sideboard. The guides in and around the house are also brilliant, and I spent some time outside talking to one about the stone figures that the first owner chose to put round the main entrance. Apparently, I am the first person that week to correctly identify one of the stone figures and what it is that they are doing. And no, I'm not going to give you the answer just in case you ever go and get asked for yourself!
After a walk round the grounds to look at the various temples, statues, lakes etc. I found myself at the ruins of the abbey itself. It really was huge, with several more outbuildings surrounding it that would have been integral to the running of the site as a whole. The beauty of this site, is that you are given a map at the entrance, and are pretty free to explore the ruins however you like. Now, obviously, there were barriers in places where staircases led to nowhere, but there were plenty of opportunities to clamber in places and have a good nosy round where the monks would have lived their daily lives. Now, as I said before, this was the site of the demise of Damien Thorn at the end of The Omen 3. You'd better believe that I stood on the spot where this occurred, slightly pretending that I was Sam Neill. I'm not one for superstition, but when I decided to say his line "Nazareen, you have won nothing", every bird that had been sat atop the window section there decided to take off at the same time and fly in my direction. Spooky timing there, so I thought it best to move on to a different area! Next to the ruins, there was a small building that gave a potted history of the monks who lived there, as well as how the building came to be in ruins today. Spoiler alert: thank Henry VIII for that one.
By the time I had completed the lap of the grounds and made it back to the visitors centre, it was starting to look a bit on the dark side. It had been grey and atmospheric all day, which I thought added to the mood of things really. But I could see that it was getting on for home time. I noticed a sign saying that there was a church about half a mile away to look at, so I made a quick detour on the way back to the carpark. For someone who has no religious belief, I do seem to spend a high proportion of my time in churches! However, there's something so calming about a quiet, old church, especially when its at the end of a lovely walk round a National Trust property.
How long was I there?
I arrived at about 10:30am (I was aiming for 10, but I overslept!). I left just before 3:30 when it was looking decidedly dark skied. I was there about 5 hours, and that included having a walk up to the church down the path from the main grounds, so I really feel like I saw it all.
How much did I spend?
Entry to the grounds - including gift aid donation: £23.10
Would I go back?
I would go back at some point. As one of the guides said to me on the day: "it's been like this for 400 years, there's no rush to see anything in any order. It's not going anywhere". Therefore, I don't really see any need to go back any time soon. I think Fountains Abbey is one of those places that you don't really need to see all that often, although next time I go, I may try to go in summer and walk round it in the sun. I think that it would feel a very different place on a hot, sunny day. Although, that wouldn't give quite the same Omen vibes!
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