Story highlights Photographer Ashley Bourne spent weeks inside two monasteries in EnglandHis work reflected the life there, he said: "slow and carefully considered"(CNN) When Ashley Bourne was younger, he saw cloaked figures disappearing behind doors -- doors no outsiders were allowed to enter -- at a Cistercian monastery on the coast of Wales. Ever since Bourne saw those monks, he became curious about the monastic way of life. "It really struck my imagination," the photographer said, adding that his family to this day still goes on little holidays to the little Welsh island where the monastery sits. Photographer Ashley BourneBut the Trappists at the Cistercian monastery are a strict order of monk, and Bourne wasn't allowed access there at the time he wanted to work on his project. So instead, he took photos at two Benedictine monasteries in England: Downside Abbey and Buckfast Abbey.

Source: CNN November 27, 2016 23:11 UTC