Nuns move into eco-friendly home

The new monastery uses wood from sustainable sources

A 400-year-old community of nuns has moved into a distinctly 21st Century monastery on the North York Moors.

The Benedictine Community of Stanbrook Abbey, Worcestershire, has moved 200 miles north because their old home became too large and expensive to run.

The new environmentally-friendly site at Wass, near Helmsley, North Yorkshire boasts solar panels, eco-friendly toilets and broadband internet.

Sister Anna Brennan said: "It is much quieter, smaller and eco-friendly."

Twenty-five nuns and more than 100 lay members of the community will live at the monastery.

'Fantastic views'

Built from natural stone and sustainable wood, the new building also has a woodchip boiler to provide heating and rain water will be collected and reused.

The design stage of the building started almost five years ago and construction began two years ago.

The site near the ruins of Byland Abbey, once one of the biggest abbeys in northern England, was chosen because of its "beauty, peace and quiet".

Sister Brennan said: "We have got fantastic views here.

"The cells all have very long windows and since we spend so much time in the cells praying and reading it is important to be in touch with God's creation."

The community's current abbey in the Malvern Hills, where they have been since 1837, is being sold.