It has been a strange week, wet and drizzly for most of the week. Sadly, I learnt that one of my golfing friends had passed away mid-week which came as quite a shock to me as I had known him for many years, he always greeted you well and always had a story to tell, quite a character.

It was my birthday today so as a treat Jen & I decided to have a couple of hours over at RHS Harlow Carr and have a walk around the gardens. The late Autumnal colours of the trees at home have been quite spectacular and they were no different here. It was a just as wet in Harrogate as it was at home this morning, so it was winter jackets on for our walk. It just about 11.00am when we arrived at the entrance to the gardens. We popped into Bettys for a takeaway coffee before we headed through the booking hall and into the gardens. We followed our usual route around the gardens, that is down the slope and turned left heading for the Learning Centre. Although dull, raining and very overcast, the colours of the trees and plants often made you stop in your tracks just to admire the views. The newly installed rockery and pond adjacent to the restaurant is filling up nicely with plants and ferns and looking quite established. We headed down to the QM lake, the recent strong winds and heavy rain had brought many of the leaves down, with huge swathes of them floating on the water’s surface. From the lake we headed back up the slope to the Edwardian sunken garden, the pergola looked good amid all the Autumn colours. Alice was still there, looking quite damp and wet on this autumn morning. A huge crow was sat on one of the benches as we passed by, quite unaffected by our presence. Passing through the lakeside gardens we headed back down and around the QM lake onto the ‘Streamside walk, the red stems of the ‘Dog wood shrubs were looking quite vibrant at the moment and add lots of colour to the borders. The other thing that attracts your attention are the different colours of the trees as the leaves die back in preparation for the colder weather, golden yellows, various shades of reds and yellows all catch your eye. After a few minutes we reached the ‘Old Bath House’ and had a browse around the arts and crafts exhibition which was being held there today.

After leaving the ‘Bath house’ we doubled back a little and followed the path on the other side of the stream for a short while before heading up to the newish ‘Sandstone Rock Garden’ and ponds. I always have to stop here to admire the landscape and huge boulders, it must have been a massive task setting all the huge sandstone boulders in place. We continued up the slope to the top path which runs alongside the garden centre, we continued along the path to one of the ‘Four Season Sculptures’ adjacent to the back entrance to the garden centre. From here we left the gardens and made our way through the garden centre and into the book shop. It is not very often I don’t buy anything and today was no different, I just love their selection and choice of books.

As we left the garden centre we popped back to Bettys but we were told we would have to wait for about forty minutes for a table so rather than waiting we popped into their shop and bought some bits and pieces to have a picnic tea at home. Although it was a cold, wet and miserable day today, there was still lots to see and admire. We should be back in a few weeks’ time for a night-time visit, when the gardens are illuminated, I am looking forward to that.