Five Go To Waverley Abbey ...

Hello there! Thank you for your kind comments on my previous post.

Yesterday, the weather here was appallingly bad. It bucketed it down all day. There was nothing to do other than stay indoors! The OH got to work sanding down the skirting board and door frame in the kitchen which were in a terrible state having been used by George as a chew toy. He also had to fill two holes in the kitchen wall with polyfilla - again the work of George! 

I did some boring but necessary jobs around the house - bathroom cleaning and such like and KP did some scrapbooking, read a book and spoke to her friends on Skype. 

Today, although the weather wasn't brilliant it wasn't raining so we headed to Waverley Abbey, near Farnham in Surrey.

Not very friendly!

The information below is from the English Heritage website:-

The monastery at Waverley, the first Cistercian house to be established in Britain, was founded by William Gifford, Bishop of Winchester, in 1128. It was colonised with 12 monks and an abbot from Aumone in France. By 1187 there were 70 monks and 120 lay brothers in residence.  

In 1201 the abbey buildings were badly flooded. This became a common occurrence and as a result the abbey was substantially rebuilt during the 13th century.
It continued to grow in the 14th century. The monks and lay brothers farmed the surrounding land, were active in the Cistercian wool trade and provided shelter for pilgrims and travellers and an infirmary for the sick. 
In 1536, with the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the site passed to Sir William Fitzherbert, treasurer of the king’s household. Much of the abbey was dismantled and some of the stone was reused to build Sir William More’s house at Loseley, a few miles to the east. 

It is hard to believe that parts of the building still remain - being 900 years old and following Henry VIII's attempt to destroy it purely so that he could distance himself from the Roman Catholic Church and set up the Church of England to enable him to divorce, Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn - whom he later had beheaded!

It was so peaceful.

A more detailed look!

The side view!

Someone found a tree! KP got pretty high up this tree. She climbs up really fast and I fret that one day she will come crashing down and hurt her head. When I was 8 years old I used to do a tightrope act on a farm gate until one day I came crashing down and split my head open on a stone. My head bled profusely. I remember clearly as though it were yesterday that I was wearing a Marks and Spencers T-shirt that had a wide collar and an elasticated waistband that had until my fall been mainly cream!

My grandparents did not have a phone - and although I walked with my grandmother with blood pouring everywhere, despite a makeshift bandage, a quarter of a mile to the nearest farmhouse which did have a phone, nobody answered the door, despite the fact that we could tell that people were at home as we could see the curtains twitching!

I received no treatment therefore other than TLC from my grandma and my grandad jokingly called me Humpty Dumpty throughout the rest of the Summer holidays. I still have a scar on my head and despite showing this to KP it doesn't deter her.

We walked around the Abbey.

And came across these concrete blocks.

And saw this tree!

Close by there was tall grass. The dogs chased each other into the tall grass and that's when tens of butterflies flew into the air. We saw many Meadow Browns.

We admired more ruins.

KP and George.

We saw geese on the river.

And a moorhen or is it a coot? We even saw a heron. It initially was very close but after I'd faffed around with the camera to get a shot it flew further away.

We saw a Marbled White.

And another!

A very enjoyable afternoon! Not a lot of sunshine but at least it didn't rain!

Until next time,

June.