Add this to your Spring Bucket List! Harrogate has long been known as the floral heart of Yorkshire. From the bright and colourful flowerbeds that line the streets and footpaths to the hanging baskets that adorn the beautiful Victorian buildings, no opportunity is missed to add a little colour.
Every spring swathes of colour soak the 200-acre Stray, a vast grassland that encompasses the town centre; first with crocuses, followed by bright and happy daffodils and then clouds of cherry blossoms tethered to the footpaths they line.
The grade II listed Valley Gardens host a variety of horticultural interests with changing floral displays and thematic areas such as the Japanese Garden and the New Zealand Garden. The Magnesia Well Café offers refreshment both indoors and out. On a hot sunny day, you can enjoy a shady stroll along the Sun Colonnade with pleasant views across the rest of the Gardens.
Harrogate is also home to the RHS Garden Harlow Carr, accessible by bus or by foot from the centre of town. Harlow Carr is home to many collections and species and includes an alpine house, kitchen gardens where students run trials, a scented garden, show gardens and an impressive double herbaceous border that frames the six stone Doric columns that were once part of the Royal Spa Concert Rooms in the centre of the town. Harlow Carr is under constant regeneration and will always offer visitors something new.
Many more gardens can be found across the surrounding area and Harrogate hosts three flagship flower shows throughout that year, one at the Yorkshire Showground in spring, one in early summer at Harlow Carr and lastly the Autumn Flower Show at Newby Hall and Gardens.
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