Category: wild flowers

English Heritage: Rievaulx Abbey

A couple of weeks ago we had a short holiday in Yorkshire during which we visited the English Heritage site of Rievaulx Abbey. These are ruins originally caused by the ‘Dissolution of the Monasteries’ by Henry VIII in the 16th Century. Despite being ruins they are certainly impressive.

As well as the usual views of this stunning location, we noticed the large amount of wild flowers (A.K.A. weeds) growing in the stonework. For photographing these, I don’t just take photos of the flowers, I try to put them in the context of the location.

Here are a few of my photos from this visit. Note that they were all taken with a small compact camera – I didn’t have my ‘serious’ camera with me:

A panoramic view of the abbey
A view of one of the end walls taken using panoramic techniques
A view through two sets of arches to further ruins and the distant landscape
Wild flowers growing in the ground adjacent to a medieval tiled floor showing the context
Dandelion type flowers growing in the stonework showing the location near an arched doorway
Daisy type flowers growing in the stonework showing the context in the ruins

I enjoyed this visit – it was one of the places I wanted to visit since first seeing drone footage on TV.