Autumn Holiday Part Seven - Fancy another ruined Abbey?

 The time had come to pack up and leave the lodge (glorified caravan) outside Easingwold where we had been staying, and to head over to Cumbria for the next part of our holiday. We seemed to have amassed a ton of tat during our holiday so far, and we were only halfway through! Funny isn't it, when you're on holiday you buy things you would never normally buy at home! Anyway, we decided to break the journey to Cumbria up a bit, with a couple of scheduled stops, up first, was Bolton Abbey.

I'd read about Bolton Abbey in a book, and I'd always wanted to visit. And we picked a beautiful drizzly day to do it on. Typical! But in the North of England in October, you should expect that to be the typical weather! 

You park up in this large car park, before wandering through a little village, and through a grassy field to where the Abbey is located. The Abbey is on the side of the hill, giving you fantastic views across the landscape. Something I didn't know, was that Bolton Abbey is technically incorrect, it is actually called Bolton Priory. I will continue to call it Abbey, as that's what it is known to most people. 

The Abbey itself had a rocky history, in the 1300's, the Scots invaded, causing serious damage to the Abbey, to such an extent it was evacuated and abandoned. As the Abbey began to rebuild over time, one end became the parish church. The opposite end was still under construction when the Suppression occurred, and some parts were torn down, other areas remained in their unfinished state. You can see this in the entrance to the parish church, this was actually the base of the unfinished tower, hence why it doesn't seem to fit quite right.

The Abbey and the grounds are free to visit, but there is a hefty car parking charge instead. I suppose if you can't be gotten one way, get them another way! For each car, it's a £15 charge, or you can book in advance and save yourself £2.50. The same charge applies for a motorbike, which I thought was a bit cheeky. I can also offer you a fun fact about the Bolton Abbey Estate, in 1807 a cow was born there, who would become the largest cow ever seen in Britain. She was never given a name, but was often called the Craven Heifer. She was 2.1 meters tall, and weighed 1,980kg. That is insane! Apparently they had to build her a doorway to the barn that was twice as wide as normal so she could get in and out. The original super sizer!

There is a fast moving stream just below the Abbey, and I took great delight in using the stepping stones to cross over and get a good view of the Abbey from the middle of the stream. I did have to stop to let this duck pass by me! Unsurprisingly, the stones were wet and a bit slippery, so I made sure I was being extra careful. I was not going to make my back worse by falling over and into a stream, no matter how beautiful it was!

Here's my picture from the middle of the stream. Isn't it beautiful!

We had a walk alongside the other bank for a bit, before turning round and preparing to cross the stones again. I remember saying to James, it's not very wheelchair friendly is it.

He looked at me confused. "What do you mean, it's not very wheelchair friendly?"

Me "Well how are you supposed to get across? You can't exactly ride a wheelchair over stepping stones, you'd have to get someone to lift you up or something"

He made this exasperated noise and pointed to the wooden bridge that was next to the stepping stones, that I had just completely not noticed. Take about not seeing things right in front of you!

The said wooden bridge next to the stepping stones. Why am I such an idiot sometimes???

Anyway, we headed back into the village of Bolton Priory, and found a wonderful but very expensive book shop, with loads of original and 1st edition books. It was called Grove Rare Books if you're interested, the chap working there was very friendly and knowledgeable. We then grabbed ourselves a slice of cake and some tea at the cafe opposite, and watched the birds flying about, wanting to be brought their own slice of cake, before heading back down to the car park to continue the journey to Cumbria.

James wanted to do a little stop around an hour later at Hellifield, to see an abandoned train. It's an old Royal Mail sorting and transportation mail train, and had been sat there for around twenty years or so. We couldn't get very close, we didn't realise it was just on a siding alongside a live running rail line, so we just observed from the fence below. Plus with how my back was, I didn't think climbing fences or being hit by a train would do it much good.

I would advise extreme caution while visiting. Like I said, it's right by a live running rail line, and no photos are worth risking yours or anyone else's safety for. If you were eager to see inside like we were, I found this blog post with pictures, see more here: 28 Days Later - Abandoned Train at Hellifield

We had a third stop on the journey, one that was very productive! We had visited Morecambe a couple of years prior, it's a nice enough place, but what it has is a place called the Pier Bookshop. It must be one of the best bookshops I've ever visited. Floor to wall to ceiling, shelves upon shelves of books. All really great value, and a selection of titles I doubt you will find anywhere else. I bought a couple of books about the Donner Party, at the time my current fascination. The chap that runs the place was super helpful, and could even direct us where certain books would be. James got a load of photography and history books as well. Check it out if you're in the area!

We then headed up to Millom, where we were staying at Brockwood Lodge. And this, was a proper lodge. A wooden cabin, complete with hot tub and even a sauna for James. The site is beautifully quiet, surrounded by forest, and even boasts a pizza place too! What more could you want?

Here's our cabin, peaceful, calm, and spacious. Perfection!