Nottinghamshire 5 - Rufford - a derelict abbey, a country park, a walk around the lake, beef, yorkshire pudding and all the trimmings

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Autumn has arrived bringing with it that final flurry of leaf colour before the leaves are finally shed and the trees will lay bare for the next few months. Crimsons, buttery yellow and deep oranges have replaced the uniform green. They look stunning and the fallen leaves lie like a buttery carpet on the ground. All the leaves begging to be kicked by my childlike feet as I am taken back to my childhood when kicking leaves was a gentler sort of pastime amongst us children. They crinkle and crumple under my shoes. The days have gone chillier. The mornings darker but we have lost that mist that clung drearily to the daylight hours. The clocks fall back over the weekend and for a few weeks the mornings will be lighter but the days will be shorter. The hedgerows are full of the bright red Holly berries which adorn the glossy leafed trees, the Horse Chestnuts have fallen to the ground, the Hawthorn bushes are heavy with berries. The predominent colour is red especially as the last Summer flowers, the Geraniums, the dahlias and the chrysanthemums are all of that colour.

Suzy has been parked up for about three weeks. She has been emptied and partially cleaned and tidied. All remnants of our last trip have been removed and we sinking back into normality. We woke early. Whilst the weather is fine we always wake early and have started to walk every day . Drinking our early morning coffee we wondered where to go and what to do. The sun was shining. The wind was blowing but it was a fine Autumn morning. So it was silly to sit at home doing nothing. We didn't want to take Suzy out. All we wanted was somewhere fairly local with good tree colours and somewhere good to walk. Somewhere to enjoy the fresh air and take in a lunchtime treat of someone else doing the cooking. The countdown to next years 2016 trip has hardly been started mainly due to not knowing when I am likely to have time off. At a rough guess we have about 22 weeks before we set off in Suzy for Europe. What sort of Europe will we find in 2016 I wonder?

We googled and area within an hours drive of home and come up with Rufford Country Park in the neighbouring county of Nottinghamshire. Not too far to get to. It would only take about three quarters of an hour to get there. So it was a short drive in the Autumn sunshine, a walk around the lake and dinner in the restaurant.

I don't think either of us had much idea of what to expect. We drove in via the long driveway through the remains of the old gates. A huge parking area was set aside for cars , vans and buses. The site is run by both English Heritage and Nottinghamshire County Council who together maintain what remains of the old abbey and the surrounding woodland. In the high season which ends on the 31st of October there is a parking charge of £3. This also applies during Nottinghamshire schools holidays. The rest of the year round the parking is free. What we didnt realise at the time was that we could get the £3 back if we spent over £15 in the restuarant. That would be easy with a couple of cups of tea to warm us up and with a warm meal inside us.

The park was an absolute delight and although packed with walkers there were plenty of spaces to go round for everyone. We headed firstly to the Abbey or what was left of it. It was a romantic building even though only the middle portion remained. The wings to either side had been demolished many years ago. The abbey had changed through its life from a monastic building to a stately home. From the stately home it like Sutton Scarsdale had declined, its contents sold off to the highest bidder and the house left to fester, decay until eventually it became a fragile ruin that was not worth saving. Another example of locally how the mighty had fallen.

The house was originally a Cistercian Abbey which sadly fell into the clutches of Henry VIII and his break with Rome. It stood in 150 acres of parkland and woodland. The house itself was constructed of the usual rubble, brick, dressed stone with ashlar dressings and a very plain tiled roof. It was founded by Gilbert de Gant in 1147 and was populated by monks from the nearby Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire . The Abbey acquired as always more and more of the nearby land and villages and had an income yearly of £254. 6s and 8d which at that time as an enormous amount of wealth . No wonder Henrys beady eye was upon it. Sadly it was visited by his men who decided that the abbot had been a naughty boy and the monks were not behaving themselves. As usual it did not seem to matter what the actual truth of the matter was Henry coveted the lands and wealth and nothing was going to come between him and making it his own. It is hard whilst walking round to imagine what the place must have looked like but the doorway in which still stands was ornate and carved leading us to believe that it must have been fantastic inside. The main hall is now roofless and the walls which once would have been decorated or covered in wall coverings are sadly bare but here and there were fantastical carvings. Rude, lewd and downright ugly but they fascinated us once we found them. Monkeys or something that looked like a monkey in chains leered down on us. Grotesque figures sucking their toes. The glassless windows looking out onto the neatly manicured parkland.

The estate after dissolution had been granted to George Talbot , 4th Earl of Shrewsbury who partially demolished it and it was converted to a country house between 1560 and 1590 by a relative the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. Following this the estate was inherited in 1626 by Mary Talbot, sister of the 7th and 8th Earls from whom it passed to her husband, Sir George Savile, 2nd Baronet. The usual remodelling of the house took place between 1685–95 when wings were added to the original medieval structure and the comforts of 17th century living added. Later the house changed hands down the family line to Sir William Saville when more additions and changes were made. It was next inhabited by his son, the Marquess of Halifax who died just before the end of the 17th century. The north wing was added on the site of the abbey church, he added more reception rooms and a long gallery. He also built the large stable block to the right of the house. It was after this that the house passed to Sir George Savile who died unmarried . After which the house and estate changed hands again to his nephew. By the early 1900's Rufford Estate comprised of 18,500 acres but like many houses it began to feel the effects of both running costs, reduced incomes and a workforce depleted by war. The decision was made to sell the house and its contents in 1931 as it had been passed to a 12 year old child. The sale was advertised in Country Life with photographs of each room displayed on the magazine pages. A facsimile of the magazine was placed on the wall and it made an interesting read . I wondered where all the furniture ended up. Who bought all the the tapestries and how much did the house make? I guess we will never know.

Beneath the house was the undercroft . A real surprise that we had not expected as most of these spaces disappeared over time. An atmospheric place where the monks ate, read and slept. Tables were set out with stories of life in an abbey, a huge fireplace demanded an equally huge blazing fire. A table was set up with food and working on it was a realistic monk. Only he wasnt a monk just a dummy in a corner but quite a convivial dummy and effective in telling the story of life in a Cistercian abbey.

The park was a joy with plenty of signs ensuring you could not get lost in such a vast area. Times were displayed on how long it took to walk to the lake and how long to walk round it. The paths were clear and easy to walk and we fell into conversation many times with dog owners walking their dogs in the Autumn sunshine. We walked across the lake . Not literally but on the path that crossed the middle of it. Water to both sides and in each swans, cygnets, moorhens and ducks of all varieties . Squirrels foraged for nuts in the woodland. The floor covered with the fallen leaves. A weir, a ford across the road and Canada Geese. An old mill with a mill race. It was a delightful walk with twists and turns and interesting things to see at each turn.

We never felt cold walking. The trees seemed to hug round us as there were so many of them. The leaves fell like summer rain. Blackbirds sang in the trees. It was a magical place where you could get away from the busy hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Lunch and a hot drink was though much needed. The Savile Restuarant is on site and we assumed we could just walk in and eat. It was so popular that even on a Thursday lunchtime it was booked solid . Luckily there were a few odd tables for two so we were given one. The menu was quite extensive and we opted first for two pots of tea . Earl Grey never tasted so good or so warming. The vegetable soup I chose was thick and welcoming and was soon eaten. Glenn chose the Bruschetta which was deemed to be fine. We finished with the carvery whiich had an excellent selection of meats from thinly carved but succulant beef, pork in a sauce of some kind, vegetarian dishes in abundance and turkey. The vegetable selection was good with seasonal vegetables in abundance . Cabbage, thinly sliced carrots, peas, roast potatoes and mash and honey roasted parsnips. Too much choice, too much on the plate . We needed another walk to burn off the calories .

Before we knew it we were on our way home . Another week gone. Another week closer to a trip in Suzy. What a lovely day .

My thought for the day a thought by Kahlil Gibran " And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play in your hair". The closest I got to the earth feeling the delights of my bare feet were to kick and thrust my shoes through the thickening piles of leaves. How good did that feel? I did feel the wind in my hair . We need more days like these.

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