Studley Royal Park, English garden in Ripon, United Kingdom.
Studley Royal Park covers 800 acres in North Yorkshire, centred on an 18th-century water garden fed by the River Skell. Its lakes, canals, cascades and classical temples lead east to the ruins of Fountains Abbey, founded in 1132. A stone garden temple with four columns and a triangular pediment stands on a low rise above the lawns and a curving pond.
The grounds were transformed in the 18th century by John Aislabie, who created a new garden layout that later connected with the medieval ruins of a nearby abbey. These two parts, originally separate projects, eventually came together as a single destination.
The name Studley Royal comes from the Aislabie family estate; John Aislabie began the water garden in 1718 after his expulsion from Parliament over the South Sea Bubble, and his son William extended it after buying the Fountains estate in 1767. Visitors can follow the canal and ponds past classical temples and a cascade, and see the deer park that surrounds St Mary's Church.
The visit works best with comfortable shoes, as paths are hilly and can get muddy, especially after rain. There are several entry points, and you should allow time to explore both the garden layout and the abbey ruins at a relaxed pace.
The deer park surrounding St Mary's Church has been grazed since the Middle Ages and today holds around 500 deer. The church itself was commissioned in 1870 and consecrated in 1878, built with money left from the ransom raised for Frederick Vyner, who was killed by kidnappers in Greece in 1870 and never released.
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