Today we went back to Kirkstall Abbey while it was open (we dropped by after hours on Monday evening) and had a look through it. Its ruins of a Cistercian monastery founded in eleven something (ie: a long time ago). It is right in the middle of Leeds and makes for dramatic viewing as a lot of the church walls still go up to the ceiling. At one point the main road to Leeds ran throught the middle of the nave (when it was ruined, not while there were monks roaming about).
After that we spent most of the day out at Harewood House which is a large stately home. Its claim to fame is as the residence of Princess Mary (QEII's Aunt) and the current Earl is the queen's cousin. I think we were told that they still live in the upstairs bit and we had a look through the downstairs areas. One interesting exhibit they had was on the "Below Stairs" people which was all about the lives of the servants, butlers and maids. And the kitchen was displaying real food and it looked real tasty. Gem wanted to have it for morning tea but there were "Do not eat" signs all over. I wonder if the staff eat it later on and make more for the next day?
The Harewood House grounds are huge and have heaps of exciting things all over. There was a bird garden with loads of aviaries including flamingos and even penguins (a long way from home) and owls (which looked very wise). Gem loved the formal knot garden at the back of the house. There was also a Himalayan Garden with loads of pretty plants and stepping stones over the stream. The childrens playground looked awesome but we restrained ourselves from playing on it. Instead we went to the planetarium which was really cool cos we found out all about the northern hemisphere stars. So next time we are out at night we can find the plow and the north star!
Love Gem and JEZ!
PS: Hey comment on our blog so we can see if anyone is actually reading what we write, and let us know if its interesting or if you want to hear more stuff that we didn't mention.
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