Currently you are asked to prebook and it's only open the first weekend in the month, although when we were there on a Sunday afternoon the car park was perhaps half full. Great views and top rate staff to meet and greet. They hope to open more often and allow access to the temples later this year. Fascinating story - the site was built purely for entertaining, it has never been a home - consumption on the grand scale! Now a lovely, basically flat walk: allow 45 minutes -or longer if you take a picnic.

Walked to Rievaulx Abbey from Helmsley and it was an amazing walk, took longer there than to get back. When we got to the Abbey were greeted by a wonderful lady who seemed to absolutely love the place and told us everything we needed to know. It made a lovely change to have someone so interested in their job and where they work, she was a credit to the place. After our long walk we sat down and refuelled in the nice cafe they have there. Then we got down to the reason why we’d gone there which was to take pictures. It was wonderful to walk around and for photography, you are just in awe of what it looks like now, still, let alone what it would have looked like when first built. We walked for a couple of hours, although we were taking lots of photos and then back to the cafe to refuel before our walk back. The food was wonderful, my mum had a vegetarian stew which came in a huge granary loaf and was beautiful and I had a lovely homemade soup with granary bread. If just hit the spot before setting off back to Helmsley. I would highly recommend, both walking to the Abbey but also if you were to drive and spend a few hours walking round. There is also a museum we didn’t get to go in but we were short on time as we didn’t want to be walking back in the dark.

It doesn't take very long to walk around it but there are really lovely views and it was interesting looking down at the Rivielaux Abbey as you walked along the grassed terrace between each temple. You couldn't go in one of the Temples but could have a look through the windows and there was a mirror to help you see the ceilings better. The other temple however is gorgeous and you can go inside and have a look at the beautiful ceiling and some furniture with a table laid out with a colourful table service. The owner lived at Duncombe House a couple of miles away and decided to build the temples and grassy terrace to impress guests as he took them for a drive through in a carriage. Don't miss having a look at the exhibition underneath this temple.