This week was The National Lottery Open Week. If you’re not familiar with this, you need to be! Every year this takes place in March and enables free/reduced fee entry to loads of great places up and down the country. Last year we visited our first National Trust site – East Riddlesden Hall for free.

We also squeezed in a visit to the wonderful Harewood House in Yorkshire for only £1 per person!

Besides National Trust properties there is a bundle of free activities that take place all week, it is well worth looking at.

This year we used the offer to visit National Trust’s Fountains Abbey. At £21 per adult entrance fee we’ve never been before. But, this weekend we entered for free! All we needed to do was present a lottery ticket.

Located a one hour drive from our home, we left bright and early. First, we picked up my sister on our way then headed out for a drive around the countryside to where Fountains Abbey was located in Yorkshire. One bend too many left our 2 year old a little worse for wear. She was violently sick in the car causing us to pull over and get cleaned up. Luckily we had spare clothes and she wasn’t poorly. She had just eaten too much for breakfast and combined with the windy roads en-route we had a recipe for disaster. Lesson learnt, 2 oranges, a bowl of cereal and a pancake is too much for a toddler before a long journey!

All cleaned up, fresh clothes on and the car smelling of body spray and oranges we finally arrived at Fountains Abbey Visitor Centre car park around lunchtime. Far later than planned but still plenty of parking since the site was so large. Parking is free for visitors too which was a bonus.

2026 has been the wettest year I can remember and compared with last year, we’ve barely left the house. This time last year my blog was booming with all the new places i’d visited and written about. Luckily, this weekend we got a break from the rain and were lucky with a rare sunny day.

Upon arrival, it was clear this place was going to be huge! We were given a map which i’ll admit we didn’t even look at. We headed straight for the path that looked the most inviting and let our toddler lead the way. She was loving the space to roam and we were glad we brought our dog to enjoy the place too.

Walking down the path from the Visitor Centre led us straight to the Abbey. Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal is a World Heritage Site and it is obvious from the moment you set eyes on the Abbey.

We walked down the hill and admired the views but we didn’t get very far before the little one decided she was hungry. Since she is in charge we did a loop around and headed back up the hill towards the playground where the picnic benches could be found. We’d come prepared with a packed lunch and the nice weather meant we could enjoy this in the sun. There were lots of children out playing on the large adventure playground nestled in the woods, it looked really good for kids! Plenty of benches meant we weren’t scrambling for somewhere to eat and dogs were allowed to sit up here too.

After lunch we headed back down towards the Abbey. I liked how tidy this place was with neat gardens, clear signs and wide paths. It’s clear National Trust takes good care of its sites and this one is no exception. Without following a map we could easily locate the Abbey and wander the grounds without any direction.

By the time we made it down to Fountains Abbey, it was nearly 2pm! Luckily the rain had held off…For now. You can see by my photos in this post it didn’t stay that way.

When we got down to the grounds, families were using the space to play football. There were people everywhere enjoying the sunshine and overall it was a really beautiful setting. I think this place would be great to visit in Summer! (Although it is mentioned that a kick-about should be in the field opposite the playground instead of the Abbey ruins).

My daughter loved to climb on the rocks in the grounds. We let her enjoy playing before we headed over to explore the abbey itself.

Picnics are allowed all over the grounds and this would be ideal for lunch on a dry day. There were various places to sit and enjoy.

We visited on a bit of a whim and given the entry was free we didn’t have big plans or anything in mind for that matter. I imagine when you pay the £21 entry fee there is a desire to try fit in as much as possible – rightly so! That’s what makes the Lottery Open Week so great. However, visiting Fountains Abbey really highlights for us the benefit of becoming a National Trust member. Just look at this beautiful place!

It reminded me of a mixture of Kirkstall Abbey and Bolton Abbey. I love seeing the historical architecture combined with the beautiful gardens.

The clouds started rolling in once we’d explored the ruins and we were hit with a hail storm! Luckily this didn’t last too long and we were able to enjoy the walk. One bonus we got was the addition of all the daffodils blooming as we near the start of spring. I’d love to see the place in summer or autumn too. Actually, I bet it’s even pretty with snow! Perfect for all seasons.

It was nice to visit somewhere with my sister too. Always reminds me of the day trips my dad used to take us on as kids. It’s really important to me that my daughter has the same memories. She won’t remember what she did when she was two but I will. The best part is we will have the photographs and whilst she might not have the memories as such, all this will be shaping her interest in the outdoors and helping her to get used to exploring nature and doing more walking. We love to enjoy it whilst we can.

I will never take for granted my health and how lucky I am to visit these beautiful gems with the ones I love!

After we’d walked what we felt was a big chunk of grounds we headed back up the hill and towards the Visitors Centre. We could see we’d missed some of the walks and didn’t make it around all the ruins.

Once we got back to the Visitors Centre we were surprised to find we were very wrong. We’d actually done such a small portion of the site. In fact, we’d not even scratched the surface! We had completely missed Studley Royal. We’d missed the deer park, the water garden and St Mary’s Church. Probably even more of the place we’d left untouched!

If you look at the map below you can see how little of the place we actually visited. It took us what felt like hours at our leisurely pace but we enjoyed it and felt like we still saw so much.

So I guess we never made it to Studley Royal and therefore missed probably 70% of this site.

Great news for us – We have a big reason to go back! Clearly we are destined to become National Trust members after all.

Have you visited a National Trust site you’d recommend? Is it worthwhile to become a member? Please drop me a comment and help us decide! I’m sure if anything, our dog would love an opportunity to go on even more new walks.

~ Visited Fountains Abbey in March 2026 ~