Rievaulx (pronounced ree-voh) is a village in Yorkshire, but we were there for some other attractions.
Rievaulx Abbey was a home to Cistercian monks until Henry VIII closed down the monasteries after falling out with the Catholic church. After nearly 500 years the ruins are still magnificent.
We started off on Rievaulx Terrace that was created by a local lord to give views of the abbey. Inspired by touring Europe he built a classical temple at each end, but it is otherwise just an expanse of grass with great views although the trees have grown to block some of that.
This second temple has a room where the lord and his guests could dine. Unfortunately that was closed, but there was an exhibition in the room below that served as a kitchen. The site used to run by the National Trust, but has been taken over by English Heritage. The guy at the ticket office was telling us how they are opening it more often. Luckily they still accepted our National Trust cards so we got free entry to the terrace and abbey.
We drove down to the abbey as it would be quite a walk. They have a nice cafe. Up at the terrace there is just a small shop and some toilets. You can use the audio guide to learn more about the site. The abbey was founded in 1132 and grew to be a thriving place with hundreds of monks. Some of them worked the land and they leased other parts to locals to farm. It would have been spectacular, but it was plundered after it shut down with lots of materials sold off such as lead and even the nails from the doors. It is amazing that so much of the structure survived.
There is a small museum with items that have been excavated from the site. The builders did a great work with lots of detailed carving.
Hardly any of the roof survives apart from this part.
The monks would have eaten, in silence, on an upper floor of this part. They spent a lot of time praying, but some of them were busy doing other work.
One of the trades was dyeing cloth and the baths for that remain. As we were wandering around the horses in the next field took fright as a military transport plane flew very low overhead. I did not have time to get a photo of that, but we were told this is a common occurrence. It is an awe-inspiring place even if you are not religious like me.
We drove there from Thirsk and that involves a steep road up to Helmsley. The Tour of Britain cycle race was about to visit there and I wondered if they had to climb the hill. It is a pretty little town and we had a brief wander, but I did not get any photos. On 
Happy travels.
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