The Crown, the Mill and the Invisible Abbey

We had a very nice Sunday roast at The Crown at Saint Neots before going to Houghton Mill, which was moderately interesting! Sorry but I'm not much of a mill person, but it was very nice scenery around it (as you can see!) with lots of people lounging by the pond in front of the mill.

Then we went on to the related Ramsay Abbey Gatehouse (the mill was owned by Ramsay Abbey once) to hear about why the Abbey is no longer present and they can't even figure out where it stood! Apparently we can thank the Cromwell family for that. The gatehouse is manned by one very nice volunteer who comes there once a month (the only day each month that it's open!) to explain the place in detail to anyone who's there. The legendary Oliver Cromwell is buried in the church across the road from the Gatehouse, but ironically they don't know whereabouts! So he ended up having something in common with the abbey...

We ended up travelling all over the Fens (not at all because we got lost or anything!) as a side effect of all this, under some rather majestic clouds during the afternoon. It was nice!

I suppose this shot is fairly topical with the Tour de France happening near us!