Ruined yet imposing, Fountains Abbey's Great Cloister stands as one of Britain's most evocative monastic spaces. Founded by Cistercian monks in the 12th century, the abbey grew into a vast complex whose stone arches, columns, and quiet precincts spoke to centuries of devotion, ambition, and daily life. Today the ruins, paired with the nearby Studley Royal Water Garden, create a hushed, cathedral-like atmosphere where history seems to echo through every carved capital and flagstone. The site remains a poignant reminder of medieval monastic power and its enduring allure for visitors and filmmakers alike.

Fountains Abbey – West Range sits within the vast precincts of the 12th-century Fountains Abbey, one of England's best-preserved Cistercian ruins. The West Range forms a cloistered sequence of stone halls, arcades and tranquil courtyards that overlook the Studley Royal Water Garden, creating a sense of time suspended among mossed arches and whispering walls. Built from a tapestry of medieval devotion and later landscape design, the abbey complex shaped the region's cultural identity and is preserved as a testament to monastic life. Its Witcher connection adds a mythic resonance, as the ruins doubled for Aretuza’s courtyard and cloisters, infusing the atmosphere with cinematic hush and fantasy.

Fountains Abbey – Cellarium sits amid the sweeping ruins of a 12th-century Cistercian abbey near Ripon, its stone arches rising over quiet meadows and the serene Studley Royal water garden. The abbey survived dissolution in the 16th century and later romantic-era preservation, and the Cellarium's vaulted corridors convey a hushed, cathedral-like atmosphere that invites quiet exploration. The site’s grandeur and tranquil grounds evoke centuries of monastic life, devotion, and later romantic reverie, with birdsong echoing through stone and water glinting in the grasses. As a film location, it has become a visual bridge to The Witcher world, with the ruins standing in for Aretuza’s courtyard and cloisters and blending fantasy light with medieval quiet.