on our way home from scotland, we stopped at the most amazing national trust site, a place that became one of my all-time favourite spots in the uk. fountains abbey is a huge ruined monastery that was founded in 1132. the ruins are beautifully preserved and the grounds around them are vast and wild and so, so lovely. we had a fantastic half-day exploring and playing at fountains abbey.

we started at the playground, which is one of the best i’ve ever been to (we were so busy playing that i didn’t take many photos, but it was truly epic).

and then went on to see the ruins. so, so cool to try to imagine what this place looked (and sounded and felt) like back in the day.

the babies loved rolling around in the grass examining daisies,

and the boys loved playing in the stream and scrambling on all the rocks.

after a while, we made our way from the ruins to the water gardens, and walked through this field full of tiny wildflowers.

i didn’t take many photos of the water gardens, but they were so serene and beautiful.

and we even saw a swan nest with a big swan egg in it!

we got some ice cream, climbed some trees, and gathered some wildflowers (my collection, kept on the top of the buggy, kept growing!).

fountains abbey is incredible.