Netley Abbey, Hampshire

Netley Abbey is situated on the outskirts of Southampton in a nice little village called, er, Netley. Apparently Chris Packham lives there, but thats just a random bit of ‘fame’ trivia for you.

Anyway, Netley Abbey is on old 13th century monastery that was home to cistercian monks up until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century in the reign of Henry VIII. It was then taken over by William Paulet who turned it into a nice homely mansion for himself. This eventually fell into disrepair and turned into what you see it as today. it is now looked after by English Heritage.

And I’ve been there! In fact I’ve been there on a number of occasions, with family and friends. It is lovely place to be in the Summer, take your picnic basket and blanket and you will have a great time.

Of course, with most places like this I visit, they are not without their ghost stories. One famous story is the story of the ghostly monk (Blind Peter) that guards the treasure at the end of the secret passageway that used to connect the Abbey with a stately mansion not so far away. One day, an explorer found this passageway and ventured down there, only to then run back out screaming “Block it up!”. I’ve not yet found the entrance to this passageway, so one can only assume that they did what he said!

If you are in the area and want a nice afternoon out in pleasant, romantic settings which influenced many artists of the 18th century, then you cannot go wrong with Netley Abbey.

If you want to have a listen of the track that I composed following the first visit I made to Netley Abbey, swing over to Freqmaster on Myspace and listen to it free there.