Read the following lines from Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'urbervilles:

"They had rambled round by a road which led to the well–known ruins of the Cistercian abbey behind the mill, the latter having, in centuries past, been attached to the monastic establishment. The mill still worked on, food being a perennial necessity; the abbey had perished, creeds being transient."

Where does this story most likely take place?

A.
the American Midwest

B.
among the Mayan ruins

C.
the English countryside

D.
London