19 Comments
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Paul McCutchen's avatar

I wish I would age that graceful.

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Julie Dee's avatar

Same :)

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Jo-Ann Petrarca's avatar

I love how you make a slight comparison with the abbey and our ageing bodies. Truly, these photos were filled with so much history. I’m not sure I’ve heard of the bird which you spoke of but Julie, this was such a lovely tour and read. Thank you

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Julie Dee's avatar

Corvids are the group of birds that include crows, rooks and ravens. Glad you enjoyed it.

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Jo-Ann Petrarca's avatar

I’ve been living under a huge rock all my life 😹duh 🤦🏼‍♀️

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Julie Dee's avatar

I didn’t know myself until the ‘Covid’ debacle, then stumbled on a funny meme that made some wordy comparison and I felt a bit thick that I didn’t get it. Look at me now, font of bird knowledge 😂😂

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M H's avatar

Thanks for the photos,l like history and old buildings l wonder how the poor people survived and what they had to do to stay alive, 😥as they died younger than this generation apart from our times of COVID 😥x.

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Julie Dee's avatar

I would think that as monks they probably had it easier than some. But it’s not something I know a great deal about. Times were harder in some ways yet easier in others.

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Deborah T. Hewitt's avatar

A wonderful musing Julie! Thoroughly enjoyed it :)

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Julie Dee's avatar

Thank you, was a beautiful day

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Trudi Nicola's avatar

I’ve never been there either 😂 I’ll have to go! I love a good ruin to explore. ✨

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Julie Dee's avatar

Yes it was a nice treat. The grounds are beautiful and I didn’t realise there are nature reserves close by. Will have to return.

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Christian Thompson's avatar

Thanks for sharing your local travels, Julie. Coincidentally, I had planned to visit the Abbey on Friday but other events overtook me. Like you, I have often been near the place but never actually to it. Your thoughts photos really bring it to life. Also nearby there's 2 nature reserves (Kirkstall and Rodley) and an impressive Victorian archway in the middle of the woods on the ground of Leeds Beckett - so I plan to spend a day mooching round all of them. Hoping that we haven't seen the last of the gorgeous weather.

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Julie Dee's avatar

Coincidence, yes. It’s only last year or the year before I visited Bolton Abbey too. I just be getting into Abbeys, having my Abbey era😂😂

I think the weather really makes the atmosphere, fog or heavy cloud could make for a very different but equally powerful experience.

Hope you get to visit soon.

I didn’t know about the nature reserves. Thanks for that.

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Christian Thompson's avatar

Bolton Abbey, famously not in Bolton. Rievaulx Abbey looks amazing too, even though I’ve only seen it from the car.

I used to walk through Lesnes Abbey quite a lot when I was a kid, though it was just a thoroughfare, I wasn’t taking it in (just like I didn’t know I was walking past Kate Bush’s house either).

When I was younger, I was only really interested in wildlife but I do find myself increasingly fascinated with decaying architecture and industry in my dotage - so I think your observation about age is spot on.

So many Abbeys, canals and disused railways to explore. I feel blessed to be in this part of the world.

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Julie Dee's avatar

I love to see old buildings that have somehow survived. Recently I was browsing a book which was all photographs of disused mental asylums. Found it fascinating. Abandoned theme park sites interest me too. I also keep meaning to go to the old Sunny Vale Pleasure Gardens site as that’s close by.

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Christian Thompson's avatar

I only found out about Sunny Vale via YouTube very recently. Sounded similar to Shipley Glenn near Saltaire. Amazing the history that’s on our doorstep. I walked through the grounds of Castle Carr when I younger. It’s all kept very private now, which makes it seem even more magical.

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Julie Dee's avatar

A former colleague told me about it and it mentions it in one of the Christopher Goddard books too.

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David Potter's avatar

Always good to read your ramblings.

David from Twitter. XX 💗

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