BRITAIN’S first new monastery for more than a century, set in a stunning location with views of the North York Moors and the Vale of York, has run out of money.

With £5 million already spent on building Stanbrook Abbey at Wass, close to the ruins of Rievaulx and Byland Abbeys, a further £4 million is needed to build the church, guest accommodation and library, says the Abbess, the Rt Rev Dame Andrea Savage.

“Until the old Stanbrook is sold, we don’t have enough funds to complete our new monastery.”

But undeterred, the Benedictine nuns – the Conventus of Our Lady of Consolation – say their move to the 56-acre Crief Farm, Wass, was ideal, being close to Ampleforth Abbey and in an area rich in monastic history.

Indeed, said Mother Andrea, the site on which the state-of-the-art monastery has been built, was probably farmed by the monks of Rievaulx and Byland in medieval times. A group of five nuns worked with the architects to create the plans for the new Stanbrook.

The current problem, she said, during an open day at the monastery, is the nuns have so far been unable to sell their previous monastery in Worcestershire which has been on the market at £6 million.

“We have come quite a journey in the past 12 years since we started looking at our monastic life. If we had known then what we know now we would have pulled down the shutters and told the Holy Spirit we weren’t in,” she joked.

The concept of creating an iconic modern monastery began when the nuns, whose order dates back more than 400 years, realised they could no longer afford to run the Worcester monastery which had been their home since 1871.

“It was costing between £6,000 and £7,000 a month in oil for heating alone,” she said. The new monastery is the home for the 25 nuns whose number include two novices.

“The brief to our architects was for a building which had tranquility, beauty and simplicity,” said the Abbess. But while funding is still awaited for the church, when completed she promised “it will be impressive”.

The hill-top monastery has been designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios who were chosen from a list of five practices.

Environmental factors were high on the list of requirements and among the energy saving features are a large woodchip boiler and underfloor heating while a sedum roof has been created to attract butterflies, birds and bees. A sewage system with reed beds has been created and rainwater is harvested.

Gill Smith, one of the leading architects on the scheme, said: “The nuns set up a group of five to work with us. They certainly put us through our paces and we had to learn a lot about monastic life.”

The nuns’ day starts at 4.45am for the first of six daily services. “We don’t have a television,” said one of the sisters. “But the Television Licensing people wanted to come and see for themselves because they inferred that they didn’t believe us.” Mother Andrea, who has been Abbess for two years and a member of the community for 25, had special words of praise for the villagers in Wass.

“They have made us feel so welcome and are very friendly.”

At the end of the day, the nuns enjoy a meal eaten off Robert Thompson “Mouseman” tables, made by the Kilburn cabinetmaker more than 70 years ago, and which they brought with them from Worcestershire back to within a a mile of where they were made. “Everyone is very happy here at Wass. It’s a lovely monastery with absolutely wonderful views,” said the ebullient Mother Andrea. “We just hope we can soon start work on the next phase of building our church, once we have the money.”