Studley Royal, Fountains Hall and Fountains Abbey

Every time my sister and I are in Ripon for our annual Yorkshire holiday, a walk to Fountains Abbey is a Must Do for us. We love the place, and the walk there is part of the experience.

It doesn‘t take long from the cottage on Coltsgate Hill to Studley Roger, the hamlet at the bottom gate to Studley Royal, the deer park that leads to Fountains Abbey. The whole estate is beautiful, and even when there are many visitors (as they were on this sunny and warm but not too hot Tuesday) you can avoid the crowds by choosing different paths and visiting the shop, restaurant or tea room at a less busy time.

It took us an hour and 20 minutes to reach the visitor centre at the top end of Fountains Abbey, with photo stops and a brief rest on a bench to have a drink of water included.

We sat on the benches either side of the door to St. Mary‘s for a brief resr.

The view we had from there

A large group of people with dogs were queuing at the ticket counter, but we were not in a hurry to get in and took our time to browse the adjacent National Trust Shop. They always have great books and beautiful things, but we are of course limited in what we can buy - it has to fit in our bags, which we have to be able to carry between and on and off trains without help at all times. We got a few ideas for souvenirs, though, without buying anything just yet.

By now it was early lunch time, and we took advantage of the restaurant not yet being very busy. We shared a quiche and a filo pie whith side salads, all very nice.

Finally, we had the ticket counter to ourselves and gained entry.

The first glimpse of Abbot Marmaduke‘s tower is always exciting, no matter how many times I‘ve seen it!

On to Fountains Hall we went, where a large upstairs room has been opened that was not accessible for visitors before. It holds a portrait of the Mallory (or Mallorie) family who owned the estate and lived at the hall in the 17th century. The painting has been restored, and replicas of the clothes the family are wearing are displayed on dummies, with many different aspects explained, for instance what it meant that the lady wore pearls and why the little boy is in a dress. We were fascinated and talked to the two very nice volunteer ladies in the room.

The walled garden and summer house were next, and from there we walked across the orchard to Fountains Mill. 

No new exhibition was in this the oldest building of the entire estate, and so it didn‘t take us long to move on to the actual abbey.

Abbot Marmaduke‘s tower close up

If I had to pick only one picture from that day, this would be it.

Leaving the ruins behind and following the river, we reached the Georgian water park. The lack of rain was very obvious there, too. 

At the end of the water park is a tea house by the lake where we nearly always stop for a drink and a rest, and this was no exception.

Back to Ripon and straight to Mary‘s, my former mother-in-law, where my sister-in-law was waiting for us with tea and a delicious carrot cake. We enjoyed that in the back garden and talked to Mary, joined after a while by her cat - and a youngish hedgehog, who was obviously looking for water. A. set down a dish of cat food and a small bowl of water for him or her, and we hope it‘ll help surviving the long dry spell.

Mary is now 92 and doing relatively well for her age. It was good to see her, and of course we‘ll visit again before our time in Ripon is over.

On our way back to the cottage we stopped at M&S for some groceries. Shortly after we were home, our landlady knocked at the door, a bottle of rosé in hand and suggesting a drink and chat - pefect timing! We had plenty to catch up on, as you can imagine (she didn‘t know of my wedding, among other things).

After she left, my sister prepared a bowl of salad for us which we had with bread and cheese. A very good and very full first day!

Ripon Road Trip 2026

You may or may not remember our long journey to Ripon last year; that post is here. This year‘s journey was also long and at times chaotic, but we arrived at our cottage in Ripon only about 45 minutes later than planned - still in full daylight, as opposed to 2025. 

But let me begin at the beginning:

I got up a few minutes past 4:00 on Monday morning (20 July). A coffee, a shower and a last check of everything later, I met my sister at Ludwigsburg‘s train station just after 5:30. A local train took us to Stuttgart Main Station, where we boarded a long distance train to Paris. 

We enjoyed that ride with views of the (rather parched) countryside both on the German and the Fench side, had a sandwich and Earl Grey tea (both provided by my sister) and arrived in Paris on time.

The short walk from Gare de l‘Est to Gare du Nord was quickly done, and going through border control for the Eurostar was smooth and efficient. 

We even found seats in the always very crowded waiting area and were safely tucked out of the way until boarding opened for our train.

Everything went without a hitch there, too, and although I could not sleep, I closed my eyes for a while to catch up on some rest after the very early start.

In London, transit from arrival at St. Pancras to departure from King‘s Cross is literally just across the road. But as soon as we reached the large hall, we understood that something was wrong - again!

Unsurprisingly, it is always very busy at such an important train station in a city as huge as London, but now people were literally standing shoulder to shoulder, many with luggage, some with prams or bikes, and everybody was trying to figure out where to go and what to do next.

Apparently, trespassers at Alexandra Palace were responsible for the major disruption that was felt on the railway system until the end of the day. Many trains were cancelled, almost all of the remaining ones running late.

We finally spotted the gate and platform for trains going to Harrogate on one of the screens and pushed our way there.

And indeed, the train we were booked for was waiting for us, with our seats close to the luggage rack, and I can tell you we were immensely relieved!

Several announcements and a bit under half an hour later than planned, our train left London and made its way up North.

We had of course texted my sister-in-law so that she knew when to expect us in Harrogate, and instead of 5:30 pm, we arrived there at about 6:15. Phew!!

It is always wonderful to see A., and you can imagine how the three of us were chatting away on the short drive to Ripon. A. had a cup of tea with us and then left for home. 

We popped to the Tesco five minutes from our cottage for some basics for tomorrow‘s breakfast and then had a quick walk across the small town centre to stretch our legs and catch a first glimpse of the cathedral, which looked especially glorious in the golden evening light.

It was still summerly mild and we would have loved a proper walk, but we had not yet unpacked and, frankly, were really really tired.

A few things have changed in the cottage: My bedroom has new wallpaint and curtains, there are new armchairs in the living room and we have a washing machine in the kitchen once more. The fridge is also new.

Neither of us was really hungry, but we nibbled on crackers and cheese with a glass of well chilled rosé before we said good night and retreated to our rooms.

By the way, as last year, we found all the staff at King‘s Cross and on the LNER Azuma train helpful and friendly, and the trainline app on my smartphone holding our tickets offered a Delay Repay button after we‘d crossed the half hour threshold. The refund was on my account the very next day - unlike in Germany, where you have to wait for days if not weeks for a refund, and are eligible for one only with delays of more than an hour.