It was a dry, bright, and sunny morning as we headed up the A1 motorway to have a walk around the gardens at Harlow Carr. I cannot believe that today was only our third visit this year, I usually try and visit at least once a month but what with one thing and another I have been unable to get away until today. It is a steady fifty-minute drive from home including the usual hold ups in Wetherby and then as you enter Harrogate both delays due to road works and the volume of traffic. We arrived at the gardens just after 10.00am, I was pleasantly surprised to see the two main car parks nearly full and considering the school half term holiday had finished last week, that said there was still a fair number of young families walking in the gardens today. I popped in to ‘Bettys’ for a takeaway coffee before entering the reception/visitor’s area and after exchanging pleasantries with the receptionists, we headed through the glass doors and into the gardens. The steps down into the gardens had been taped off this morning so it was a walk down the slope and into the gardens, as we stepped outside the door the bright, sunshine we had when we first arrived decided to disappear for a few minutes and was well hidden behind the cloud, fortunately it was only short lived and by the time we had finished our coffee was back out again. The view from the bottom of the steps looking down to the Summer House was beautiful, the borders were full of colour with clumps of purple and lilac coloured Irises, ferns and alpines which covered the little stream and rockery adjacent to the restaurant.  We continued our walk along the path up towards the ‘Bramall Learning Centre,’ the borders were full and colourful, with Roses, Alliums, Hosta’s, Lupins, and Irises, to name just a few. Flowering Creeping buttercups were adding extra colour to the grass verges which had been left to grow. We stopped at the ‘Teaching Gardens’ for a few minutes, to finish drinking our coffee, the wildlife pond was full of emerging water lilies and other water loving plants, several giant Gunnera were bordering the pond, their leaves must have been at least two feet across!  A party of Primary school children were being shown around the gardens chaperoned by their teachers and staff members. After a few minutes we continued our walk over to the ‘Victorian sunken gardens.’ What a difference since our last visit when the flowerbeds surrounding the pond were quite bare, this morning the beds were full and vibrant, the bees were loving the foxgloves, what a difference eight weeks makes since our last visit. We continued our walk round the sunken garden, following the newly laid footpath leading down towards the ‘Queen Mothers Lake,’ crossing the ‘Thaliana bridge,’  we stopped for a few moments to watch a pair of Tufted Ducks as they swam around the lake accompanied by a Moorhen all be it some distance away. Yellow flag Irises and marginal grasses surrounded the water’s edge with yellow flowering marsh marigolds adding some colour to the area.  The wild meadow to our left was full of flowering Creeping Buttercup, Ragged Robin, and Bistort which looked quite colourful and was a haven for insects and the bees. We continued our walk, following the ‘Lakeside footpath.’ It was very busy and noisy as we passed the ‘Logness Monster’ play area so we continued round to the ‘Streamside Walk’ which we followed all the way to the ‘Old Bath House.’ The banks of the stream were full of flowering shrubs, including clusters of Hosta’s, Primulas, Cowslips, Yellow Day Lilies, and Gunnera, the retaining wall on our left had several alpines and plants growing through it, one of the most colourful was the orange poppies. Set back on our left amongst the trees were lots of Rhododendron bushes in full flower, covered in Cream, Red, Purple, and White flowers. As we reached the ‘Old Bath House’ it was nice to see lots of flowering Meconopsis otherwise known as the Blue Himalayan Poppy amongst the rockery as well as on the banks of the stream on our right. We stopped for a very pleasant brunch at ‘Betty’s tea house,’ sat outside in the sunshine, we had several Crows, Robins and Wood Pigeons keeping us company, hoping for a free meal of crisps and crusts off our sandwiches which they readily consumed.

Suitably refreshed we continued our walk around the gardens, doubling back on ourselves and this time walked along the opposite side of the stream, passing the ‘Geoffrey Smith’ memorial stone on our right, lots of colourful Candelabra Primulas lined the banks of the stream and on both sides of the stone bridge adding lots of colours to the area. After a few minutes we left the ‘Streamside path’ and headed up the slope to the ‘Sandstone Rock Garden,’ lots of Lillys, Irises, Acers, Ferns, and Hosta’s lined both sides of the path, providing an oasis of calm and colour. Continuing our walk up the slope we headed over to the ‘Alpine House,’ a fine display of Cacti greeted us on the left as we entered, followed by a host of flowering alpines and miniature plants all neatly displayed, it was quite busy in the glass house so we continued through and headed over to the ‘Sub Tropical Garden,’ formally known as the ‘Foliage Garden.’ This area was transformed five years ago into the tropical gardens we see today. The path winds its way through a tropical paradise, a couple of small greenhouses were full of the delicate plants whist the borders were full of palms, soft tree ferns, Bamboos, and lots of others, many with huge bold leaf shapes. On leaving this part of the garden, we skirted around the ‘Kitchen Garden,’ and made our way to the garden centre and after a good browse through the bookshop we headed back to the car and the journey.

 Note to self – must visit more often.