Mount Grace Priory

Today I was on assignment for Getty Images covering a media event for garden designer Chris Beardshaw at the launch of the new arts and crafts style garden he has designed for English Heritage at Mount Grace Priory near Northallerton in North Yorkshire.

The garden takes inspiration from the Arts and Crafts style established by the Victorian owner of the priory, industrialist Sir Lowthian Bell. The colourful and informal planting features Iris, Peonies, ferns, Azaleas, Hostas, Primulas and the rare Chilean fire bush and has been designed to celebrate the horticulturally diverse gardens of the late 19th century.

The ruin’s at Mount Grace priory are the best preserved and most accessible of the ten medieval Carthusian houses in England. Monks used to live as hermits with each occupying his own cell and only coming together in the chapel for short periods of prayer. The monks were a silent order and followed a strict vegetarian diet.

Before he arrived and the media event began I took the opportunity to have a wander around the completely empty priory to shoot some pictures before moving onto the media event. Here’s a few pictures from the day…