Another piece of Catherine being confronted with reality I love is on her tour of the domestic arrangements of the abbey:

How inexpressibly different in these domestic arrangements from such as she had read about — from abbeys and castles, in which, though certainly larger than Northanger, all the dirty work of the house was to be done by two pair of female hands at the utmost. How they could get through it all had often amazed Mrs. Allen; and, when Catherine saw what was necessary here, she began to be amazed herself. (chpt 23)

Though if Catherine had expected the abbey to be in ruins like the ones in your photos, then two pairs of hands would make more sense.