Fountains Abbey – River View sits beside the tranquil River Ure on the edge of the ancient Cistercian complex that gave rise to one of England’s most evocative monastic landscapes. Founded in 1132, the abbey’s soaring arches, cloisters, and surrounding Studley Royal Water Garden evoke centuries of devotion, grand design, and rural aristocracy, now immortalized by their hauntingly beautiful ruins. The site unfolds with a quiet, contemplative atmosphere, where moss and stone meet reflections on the water and the surrounding countryside of North Yorkshire. In The Witcher series, these ruins were used as Aretuza’s courtyard and cloisters, blending fantasy with history in a location that feels both otherworldly and tangible.

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’s Mill Ruins sit in a windswept valley where centuries of faith, power, and landscape design converge. Founded in 1132 by Cistercian monks, the abbey grew into one of England’s largest and most complete monastic complexes before its Dissolution in the 16th century. Today, the surviving nave arches, cloisters, and Studley Royal Water Garden render a haunting chorus of stone and water, with moss and lichen tracing the centuries across the ruins. The site—recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—offers a quiet, cathedral-like atmosphere that shifts with the light, inviting reflection as well as awe. Notably, the ruins were used by filmmakers as Aretuza’s courtyard and cloisters in The Witcher, blending real medieval grandeur with fantasy ambience.