Today I didn't travel far and went to one of my favourite local places, Roche Abbey.
Roche Abbey was founded way back in 1147, and was a monastery of the Cistercian order, at it's peak, the abbey had around 50 monks and 100 lay brothers and servants.
The monastery was suppressed in 1538 – an event recorded in remarkable detail by a local clergyman – and many of the buildings were dismantled. Two hundred years later the ruins became the centrepiece of a designed landscape created in the 1770s by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown for the Earls of Scarbrough.
The above information was taken from the offical English Heritage Website, for further information, you can visit:
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/roche-abbey/history/
So I was in two minds of where to go, I didn't fancy a longish drive today and just wanted to stay local, so I thought I'd not visited Roche Abbey for a couple of years, well not at least before the first lock down.
It was beautifully quiet there today, I had the abbey all to myself for at least an hour, listening and watching all the wildlife, from flies, right up to Red Kites looking for their dinner, then the silence and serenity was broken by loud voices, all shouting this little kid who had no idea what the hell was going on lol. Thankfully, after about 30 mins or so, they got bored and buggered off.
Other than that, there was just me, the sound of birds singing from all directions, a slight breeze and the sound of flowing water, this is such a peaceful place, even today as it stands in ruins.
(
I spent a fair bit of time here in the hot sun, only the breeze keeping the heat from being over bearing.
I had my gimbal, I had my camera and I had my drone, what more could I wish for? (although I did forget my 360 camera lol).
Sat in the sun while time lapses finished, I never thought it would burn, but I think I was a little wrong with my judgement.
!
(Above video is of all the timelapses and video sequences I shot today).
I love a bit of Bokeh.
After spending at least 2 hours around the abbey, I decided to go for a wonder, as there's a lovely little walk around the perimeter, which leads to a waterfall, and stepping stones, although the first step could do with a bit of a repair.
I've never seen Roche Abbey from this perspective, and I love how, at 400 feet, you can see the small dam above the Abbey.
So that was my little adventure for today, I'm working all bank holiday weekend, so won't be going anywhere, not until at least Tuesday, but I have a few days off in a row next week, so where will my next adventure be.
I really hope you've like my blog for today, thanks for reading.
All the best :-)