Tintern Abbey

We left the Wye Valley Hotel this morning and our first stop was about a 5 minute drive south along the river to Tintern Abbey.  I had driven by it before many years ago with my mother but this time we stopped.  First off, a tip:  you don't need to pay the 3 pound parking fee if you can find free parking on the road - we did!
 
For background (and from Wikipedia):  Tintern Abbey (Welsh: Abate Tyndyrn) was founded by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow, on 9 May 1131.  It is situated adjacent to the village of Tintern in Monmouthshire, on the Welsh bank of the River Wye, which forms the border between Monmouthshire in Wales and Gloucestershire in England.  It was only the second Cisterian foundation in Britain, and the first in Wales. Falling into ruin after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, the remains were celebrated in poetry and often painted by visitors from the 18th century onwards. The site welcomes approximately 70,000 people every year.
 
Wordsworth wrote a poem the title of which is Lines Written (or Composed) a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey on revisiting the banks of the Wye during a tour July 13, 1798.  It is often abbreviated simply to Tintern Abbey although that building does not appear within the poem.  He wrote the poem after a walking tour with his sister in this section of the Welsh Borders. 
 
We took a lot of photos before we headed on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The River Wye with Tintern Abbey in the background