24 January 2026

Snowdrops and puddles are the order of the day at Benningborough & Fountains Abbey

Our aim is to visit 12 different National Trust properties by the end of February, collecting 12 passport stamps for Ruby along the way. With a damp and thoroughly soggy week behind us, Saturday’s forecast of a drier day felt like an opportunity not to be wasted. So we set off early for North Yorkshire with an ambitious plan: two National Trust properties in one day — Benningbrough Hall in the morning, followed by Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Gardens in the afternoon.

Benningbrough Hall was our first stop, a place we’d visited before but not for a good number of years. It felt familiar and unfamiliar all at once, one of those places that quietly changes while still feeling reassuringly the same. The first task on arrival was, of course, to get Ruby’s passport stamped. With that important business taken care of, we were free to explore. At reception we learned that the snowdrops and aconites were just beginning to flower. These were planted back in 2016 to mark the hall’s 300th birthday — an impressive 300,000 bulbs in total. Armed with that knowledge, we set off in search of them.

The recent rain had left its mark. Puddles were everywhere, and it quickly became clear that avoiding them was going to be a theme for the day. Ruby, to be fair, makes a genuine effort to dodge as many as she can, carefully picking her way around the worst of them. Occasionally, though, a puddle was unavoidable and had to be endured with quiet dignity.

The snowdrops were well worth the effort. Drifts of white were beginning to spread through the woodland, delicate but surprisingly resilient, with splashes of yellow from the aconites adding warmth to the scene. It felt like winter loosening its grip, just slightly. After a gentle wander around the grounds and a final check that Ruby was still relatively mud-free, we headed back to the car and set off for our second destination of the day.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Gardens always feels like a change of pace. Where Benningbrough is calm and contained, Fountains feels grand and expansive, with long views, wide paths, and the dramatic remains of the abbey itself dominating the landscape. Once again, the passport came out for its next stamp — Ruby was clearly pleased with her progress so far. The paths here were just as wet, if not wetter, and once again puddle-avoidance became a careful dance. The wider paths helped, though, and there was plenty to distract us: the sweeping water gardens, the reflections on the still water, and the slow reveal of the abbey as we walked further into the site.

Fountains Abbey never fails to impress. Even on a grey winter’s day, there’s something about the scale and atmosphere of the ruins that makes you slow down and take it all in. Ruby, meanwhile, seemed more interested in the smells than the history, but she enjoyed the walk all the same. By the time we made our way back towards the car, legs were feeling tired, boots were muddy, and Ruby had clearly had enough adventuring for one day.

Two properties, two passport stamps, and a proper sense of having made the most of a dry window in an otherwise wet week. It felt like a small victory — another step closer to twelve stamps, and another good day out shared together.