On the way to Hay: Tintern Abbey

This is the first instalment of our holiday photos. We usually try to make the most not only of the holiday itself, but the two travelling days, visiting somewhere on the way there and the way back. 


On our way to Hay-on-Wye, we stopped at Tintern Abbey, near Chepstow in Wales. It was founded in 1131, rebuilt in the thirteenth century and in 1536 was part of the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. I was surprised to see so much of it standing. 

I love really old buildings, to walk around and be able to touch 800 year old history is amazing to me.  When I was 16 and had a Saturday job in Tesco, I would take my lunch and sit in the ruins of Barking Abbey, thinking 'wow, William the Conqueror stayed here!'. Barking Abbey will have to wait for another time, but I'll be back soon with some of the thirty or so bookshops of Hay.