[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO CLEEVE ABBEY] _Cleeve Abbey_, the ruins of a Cistercian monastery, 1/2 m. S. from Washford Station (G.W.R. branch to Minehead). Leave the station by the Taunton road, and take first turning to R. It is only recently that these interesting remains have been rescued from the farmer and made accessible to the public. The abbey was founded in 1188. With the proverbial monkish eye for a fine situation and a trout stream, its builders set it in a fertile valley, to which old chroniclers gave the name of the Flowery Vale. Contrary to the usual fate of such ruins, the domestic portions of the monastery have survived; the church has gone. Entrance is gained through a gatehouse standing well apart from the main block of buildings. It is generally believed to have been a kind of combined guest-house and porter's lodge, where the casual visitor found temporary entertainment. Over its hospitable doorway is graven the salutation "_Patens porta esto, nulli claudaris honesto_" (This gate shall ever open be To all who enter honestly). The floor which divided the upper chamber from the passage below has disappeared. Note on the front face (1) Perp. window; (2) empty niche; (3) niched figure of Virgin and Child; and on the back (1) name of the last abbot, Dovell; (2) crucifix flanked by two empty niches. Crossing a rough field, the visitor enters the monastery proper by a doorway pierced in the cloister wall. (Admission 1s. for one, 6d. for each additional person.) The entrance opens at once into the quadrangle. Immediately on the L. are the W. cloisters (Perp.), once surmounted by the sleeping apartments of the lay brothers. Opposite on the E., and easily distinguishable by its E.E. lancet windows, is the large dormitory which occupies the whole length of the upper storey of the E. side of the quadrangle. The chambers beneath this on the ground floor should be carefully inspected. In succession, from L. to R., are (1) sacristy, lighted by a broken rose window and containing a painted piscina and aumbry; (2) treasury; (3) chapter-house, partly vaulted and entered from the quadrangle by a beautiful E.E. doorway; (4) library and staircase to dormitory; (5) a passage; (6) entrance to monastic common room. This last was a kind of parlour running under the S. end of the dormitory and divided from it by a vaulted ceiling of which only the supporting piers now remain. On the R., or S. side, of the quadrangle is the refectory, the most striking feature of the whole group of buildings. It is a beautiful room, finely proportioned, and well lighted by some lofty Perp. windows. It still retains its original roof and some faded wall paintings. Note the stairs for reader's pulpit, and contrast outer doorway of entrance staircase with doorway of dormitory. The basement below is taken up by various offices of E.E. date, and the rest of the block consists of the buttery, abbot's lodgings, and kitchens.