Hailes Abbey

In addition to allowing the king to marry Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s conversion to Protestantism enabled him to close the monasteries and steal their riches. On Christmas Eve 1539, his commissioners arrived at Hailes Abbey near Winchcombe, turned out the Cistercian monks, and seized all the gold and wealth of the abbey. After they left, other vultures showed up to loot anything the commissioners had missed, and so, for 500 years, Hailes Abbey, which had once housed a vial of Jesus’s blood (burned by Henry’s agents), fell into disrepair and was forgotten.

We visited the ruins of Hailes Abbey after our visit to the Roman villa in Chedworth. The road from Chedworth to Hailes is almost entirely one-lane narrow country roads, up and down the hills of the Cotswolds. It was a challenge to find, and we had to stop at a farm to ask for directions, since it was really hidden away. In fact, if we had approached it from any direction other than Chedworth, it would have been much easier to find, as it wasn’t too far off the beaten path.

Very little of Hailes Abbey remains, but there is an outstanding audio tour available that teaches you all about the abbey and leads you around the foundations. Like other National Trust sites, parking and admission is free to members. The audio tour costs £1, which gives you an audio guide for each member of the family (as opposed to one to share), which means your kids can go at their own pace. This proves helpful, as our 8 year-old raced through and then enjoyed running around the ruins while we old fogeys stepped through the entire tour.

At the museum shop, the docent had samples of some local wine for sale, which we sampled and then bought a bottle.

While not a must-see on your English itinerary, it was good enough that I would recommend it if you’re in the area. You can do the whole abbey in about an hour.