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Published: September 18th 2007
Fountaines Abbey
One of the guest houses at Fountaines Abbey that was used to host visiting nobles.So on Friday we travelled to Fountaines Abbey which was founded by monks from St. Mary's in York who wished to live a more strict lifestyle. The ruins were amazing. All of the windows were without glass so you could see the trees and hills from inside the abbey. The abbey was forcefully taken out of use by King Henry VIII during the Reformation. Since then the abbey has changed hands several times and is now connected to water gardens and is held by the National Trust. We spent three hours down at the ruins and had a great tour from a dry-stone waller named David. As we got ready to leave, we discovered that our bus had a flat tire caused by a nail. So we hang around for another hour and a half and had Tea. After the tire was fixed we got on the coach for a two hour ride to Alnwick Castle - which is pronounced nothing like it is spelled.
Alnwick is the home of the Percy family and has been for 700 years. Of course the Percy's that live their now live in much more comfort than their ancestors did because while the outside of
Fountaines Abbey
The Abbey from a distance. the castle looks medieval, the keep is furnished with all the modern comforts. This castle is also used by St. Cloud State for their study abroad program; they live in the castle, so we got to spend a night there too! For any of you who are familiar with Shakespeare, this castle was home to Henry Percy "Hotspur" from Henry IV, part one. There is a huge statue of him in one of the courtyards. This castle has also been the site for movies such as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Elisabeth, and the learning to fly scene from Harry Potter. When we arrived we had a quick tour of the grounds and lecture about how castles were used and then we headed into town for a wonderful, and late, dinner. After dinner, which was complete with Sticky Toffee Pudding, we walked back to the castle, climbed into our beds, and went to sleep.
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