Bolton Priory, Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire, England

Stepping from Airedale into Wharfedale brings us into the Yorkshire Dales National Park and to Bolton Priory. Part of the old abbey is still used as an Anglican parish church, but it's the ruins that remain attached to it that really catch the eye. The monks who picked the site certainly had an eye for idyll with its location by the Wharfe and the hills that surround it. The political and religious realities of the reign of Henry VIII were to shatter that with the dissolution of monastic establishments like Bolton Priory. Such was the state of the exchequer at the time that it is too easy to see the whole exercise as a land grab designed to fill the coffers. Since then, the ruins and the surrounding estate have found their way into the enlightened ownership of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. Public access is not just a given, but the amount of attention lavished on the upkeep of paths and the like makes you want to contribute towards their efforts.