Absolutely Gigantic. Visit early, you WILL need the entire day to explore the entire site. We arrived at 12, left at 5, and still missed afew things!!! because my parents were clearly getting bored while i was not hahaha. Be sure to visit the watch-tower that's on the side of the dining area! It's hidden away and you'd never know it was there apart from the little doorway it has. If you want to listen to music at the site, bring something that doesn't need Wi-Fi!!! i wanted to listen to Golden Brown as i had seen a post of this place on Instagram with that song & i wanted to mentally recreate it but there was no service lol so i just had to sing it in my head while i walked around 😂😂😂

Beautiful site with some really well explained history. The small museum of artefacts is well laid out, and the gift shop has a wide range. Highly recommended!

What an absolutely amazing place to visit. In all honestly this makes Whitby Abbey look bad and I never thought I'd say that. Rievaulx Abbey, founded in 1132, was the first Cistercian abbey in the north of England and became one of the wealthiest monasteries in England. It was seized during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. The abbey's ruins are a popular tourist attraction, and the wider site has been awarded Scheduled Ancient Monument status. Rievaulx Abbey's history is a testament to the Cistercian order's influence and the monks' dedication to a life of prayer and self-sufficiency.

I have visited 3 English Heritage sites since the beginning of April, and this has been the most tremendous so far! The remaining are so tall and spacious, that its greatness makes your heart stop for a moment. It’s a magical place and even reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia. Also I would recommend purchasing a guidebook as it provides so much more detail about how the Abbey originally looked, and how the brothers lived at the time.

Lovely place and well laid out. Super interesting and well labelled and I really liked the signs and the museum too. It is very small and you can get around it in roughly 45 minutes if you really take your time, but a cool place!