The old ruins

A lovely warm day.  A slower start after a better night's sleep.  We spent the morning reading and in and out the hot tub, though I nearly boiled myself staying in too long.

The old ruins describes not us (quite yet) but our choice for exploring for the day, which was Lanercost Priory.  A really fascinating place with so much history - a priory ruin with an (Anglican) working church still attached, a picturesque victorian churchyard which was left wild (so unmown and scraggly...) which gave it an interesting character, and a delightftul set of cloisters that are now used by the nesting swallows who were in and out to feed their noisy little chicks in the many nests.  Also interesting (if you like this sort of thing) was the history of the Dacre family who converted to the monastry into a home following the dissolution of the monasteries, and then how the Dacre family was married out by the Howards (literally generations of the Howards married the Dacres... the gene pool must have been quite narrow by the end).  All of which learning and history necessitated the tasting of the cherry brandy and the heritage mead, a bottle of each was then duly bought to save the locals from too much temptation.

Blip is taken from within the ruins of the main priory, which I thought might meet the brief for the DerelictSunday challenge - I always love a multi-layered ruin with a view through what would have been windows!