St John in he Forest was a miniature version of Kingsbridge Priory

St John in he Forest was a miniature version of Kingsbridge Priory. The church was small, as were the stone-built cloisters and dormitory; the rest of the buildings were simple wood- frame structures. They were eight monks and no nuns. In addition to their lives of prayer and meditation, they grew most of their own food and made a goat’s cheese that was famous throughout south west England.
Godwyn and Philemon had been riding for two days an it was early evening when the road emerged from the forest and they saw a wide acreage of cleared land with the church in the middle. Godwyn knew at once that his fears were true, and reports that Saul Whitehead was doing a good job as prior of this cell were, if anything understated. There was a look of order and neatness about everything; the hedges trimmed, the ditches straight, the trees planted at measured intervals in the orchard, the fields of ripening grain free of weeds. He felt sure he would find that the services were held at the correct times and conducted reverently. He had to hope that Saul’s evident fiftness for leadership had not made him ambitious.
Hey rode into the farmyard and dismounted. The horses immediately drank from the through. There was no one but a monk with his robe hitched up mucking aout a pigsty behind the stables. He was sure to be a youngster, doing a job like that. Godwyn called to him. ‘Hey, you, lad! Come and help us with our horses.’
‘Rightho!’ the monk called back. He finished cleaning out the sty with a few more passes of his rake, then leaned the tool up against the stable wall and walked towards the newcomers. Godwyn was about to tell him to get a move on when he recognized the blond fringe of Saul.
From the book ‘World without end’ by Ken Follet