What a week of weather, predominantly rain and more rain, early morning frosts and snow mid-week, phew. The rain and sleet showers on Tuesday continued overnight into Wednesday morning. We woke up on Wednesday to a light dusting of overnight snow which by mid-morning had turned into rain and sleet again making it quite a dull and miserable day. Thursday was another cold, wet and dreary day, compounded by the strengthening strong westerly winds. The amount of rain we have had this week has raised the water level considerably, water has begun to overfill into some of the surrounding fields and the dog walk has become a nightmare due to the amount of mud, I seem to be washing doggie towels on a daily basis at the moment. Today was somewhat brighter, I had a 10.30am appointment in Harrogate and as we approached the town was quite surprised as to how much snow and ice was lying about on the road and pavements. After my meeting in the town we drove over to RHS Harlow Carr for a walk and brunch. As a result of the amount of snow there was only one car park open but that was not a problem. It is always a couple of degrees colder here at Harlow Carr than at home and although the gardens are some five hundred feet above sea level they are the most Northern of all the RHS gardens.

As we walked through the visitor’s entrance the extent of the snow was quite clear to see, there must have been two inches of snow on the grassland, all of which fell earlier in the week. We took our usual walk from the centre, over to the library and resource centre and round by the small lake which was partially frozen and joined the streamside walk towards the Bath house. The colours of some of the shrubs and trees highlighted against the snowy background looked quite stunning. The staff had done a great job clearing all the snow from the footpaths but you still had to be careful if you ventured off the main walk ways. Needless to say that no sooner had we arrived that the morning sunshine disappeared behind the clouds and for the next fifteen minutes had to endure a rain and sleet storm. As we approached the Bath house the storm had passed over us and the watery sun started to break through. I doubled back on myself and followed the other side of the stream, up past the rock pools to the visitors centre a good forty five minute walk. After a look around the bookshop and garden centre we headed for ‘Betty’s’ and brunch, the homemade soup was absolutely delicious and just what you needed at the end of a pleasant walk around the gardens.