Fountains by Floodlight

Every October, Fountains Abbey open its gates on Friday and Saturday evenings to allow visitors to appreciate the site as the sun sets, darkness falls, the Abbey is illuminated by floodlight, choirs sing in the Cellarium, and a flotilla of food trucks cater to most tastes.

This year, there was another attraction: a lightshow telling the story of the Abbey, from its early days as a simple place of a life of prayer for a few devout monks; through its successful days as an important religious and wool-trading centre; to its dissolution by Henry VIII; its re-emergence as part of an 18th century water garden; and finally, as a UNESCO World Heritage site managed by the National Trust. All that history, colourfully and dramatically brought to life in 10 minutes or so, projected on repeat throughout the evening! It was magnificent, and a wonderful window on the past. If you live near enough and fancy this kind of evening out, there are two further weekends this October. Find out all about it here.

If the windows shown here aren’t obvious enough, here’s one more:

For Ludwig’s Monday Window, hosted this week by PR

PS. Radio silence for a while, apart from the odd virtual postcard. Off on a rail trip to visit Team Spain, then on to our old haunts in France for a few days before chugging our way home.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

32 thoughts on “Fountains by Floodlight”

  5. Another one abandoning the blogging community!

    This looks quite amazing, though my time for night adventures is pretty much past, I’m not happy driving in the dark, oncoming headlights are awful.

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    1. I so agree about night-time driving. It’s truly awful. Luckily, my route means I rarely meet on-comimg traffic, so this is one of the journeys I’m happy enough to make. Um, opting out until 5th November (and sending the odd VP!) is hardly abandonment. I’ll be back soon enough!

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  8. If we lived near enough this would be right up our street! Although that sounds odd, as of course ‘if we lived near enough’ it would be pretty much up our street 😆

    Enjoy the rail travel and your time with Team Spain!

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      1. Hmm, probably not, as it’s timed to coincide with my father-in-law’s birthday (19th August) and the anniversary of his death (20th August). What we really need is a second visit later in the year!

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  10. What a fabulous thing to watch, Margaret. Is it likely to run up to the Christmas period?

    I missed the note about Spain but picked it up in the comments. Hope the weather cooperates. There seem to be a lot of storms around. A bit early for your pre-Christmas visit so I guess they’ll be coming to you. Have fun! xx

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    1. They’ll probably ‘do’ pre-Christmas here. We’re not often together for Christmas itself. Too complicated. We’re going now because of La Castanyada – Chestnut celebrations, which we’ve not been there for before. It’s a nice foil to Hallowe’en which is in danger of taking over xx.

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