My sister is visiting at the moment and she loves taking photos even more than I do, so I thought her visit was the perfect excuse to hop on two buses and head up to the Abbey for an explore and to learn about it's history.
The abbey is quite imposing as soon as you see it, even though it is crumbling and many areas are barely standing. What made it even more beautiful was the fact that it was already surrounded by bright spring flowers, making it look like an image on a postcard.
I think my favourite piece of the abbey's history has to be that when it was being used by farmers to house animals - part of the abbey was turned into a barn following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 - the main road to Leeds ran straight through what was the church. They knocked out the large window at the end and built up the road so it exited the building that way.
I definitely want to go back in the autumn, as I'm sure a cloudy day will add a lot of atmosphere to the ruins and result in some really gorgeous pictures.