Celebrate World Heritage Day at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal

This This weekend Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal, a National Trust site near Ripon, will be celebrating their World Heritage Site status with a real life medieval encampment.

Experience life in a medieval village at the time of the abbey’s heyday as re-enactors Rosa Mundi return to set up camp by the abbey. See and smell the fifteenth century brought to life with a programme of traditional crafts, cookery and archery.  You can join in with activities and games at Swanley Grange and follow a Lost Places trail to discover the buildings you never knew had existed, including Studley Royal House in the deer park, once home to the Aislabie family who created the Studley Royal water garden.

You’ll also find out more about what makes Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal a World Heritage Site and how the National Trust care for this special place. You might be surprised know the eighteenth century water garden and the way the abbey ruins were incorporated into this forward-thinking garden design is the main reason the estate is a World Heritage Site. There will be tours of the abbey (daily 11.30am & 2.30pm) and of the abbey and water garden (daily 1.30pm), as well as a special tour to explore the hidden messages of this unique water garden (Sat 18 April, 2pm).

World Heritage Day is celebrated around the globe, raising awareness of the diversity of cultural and natural heritage and the 1007 places listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.  At Hadrian’s Wall and Housesteads Roman Fort, another National Trust property in the North East of England, they’ll also be hosting talks and tours on Saturday 18 April.

Visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fountains-abbey to find out more about this weekend’s event at Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal.