I had been trying to fix up a visit to RHS Harlow Carr for several weeks now, and what with one thing or another had not been able to arrange one until today. This morning was the first opportunity to visit the gardens, just looking through my diary I was surprised to see that our last visit was just under three months ago. So, after breakfast I packed the car and headed up north, the traffic was not too bad for the time of day, although it is always busy on the A1/A64 junction and Harrogate centre was relatively clear of hold ups. We arrived at the gardens around 10.30am. On leaving the car, I popped into the café to purchase a takeaway coffee and cake before we entered the gardens. It was a lovely sunny morning, quite humid, the car thermometer had been showing 18C, I was aware that rain was forecast for 1.00pm time. 

After passing through the visitor reception area, we made our way down the steps, stopping for a few moments to admire the heather beds on the right. The view opposite looking over towards the gazebo looked extremely colourful too with several shades of green and brown. The new path and reshaped borders adjacent to the restaurant looked quite established along with the huge boulders, and ferns. We continued our walk in a clockwise direction heading over towards the learning centre. The borders on the left were looking full and extremely colourful, we stopped here and sat on one of the benches to finish off our coffee and admire the view over the gardens. Continuing past the learning centre and Teaching gardens to the Lakeside gardens and the sunken Victorian garden. I cannot recall seeing the sunken garden as colourful as it was today. From here we headed back and around the QM lake. Work is continuing on the ‘new footbridge’ footings which are scheduled for completion later this year. On the left, the grass borders have been left to grow and are awash with Common Spotted orchids. The QM Lake is looking in need of some care and attention, the grassy banks and surround have been left to grow wild, but I should think work in this area is still under development with the new footbridge being installed over the coming months.

Continuing past the lake I always prefer to follow the ‘Streamside walk’. The weather up to this point had been lovely, warm and sunny, but the sky was beginning to cloud over with some heavy thunderous looking clouds. This time of year, the streamside is awash with a wide range of plants including varieties of Hosta’s, Gunnera and Sibirica. Further along are the Primulas added lots of colour to the newly rebuild stone bridge. 

At this point I could feel one of two spots of rain and looking at the sky it looked grey and threatening, at that point we had a massive crack of thunder and the rain started in earnest, we managed to find some cover under the trees along the streamside. After a downpour lasting about ten minutes the rain stopped and a few moments later the sun came back out. We continued to the old bath house and had a look around the handicraft and painting exhibition. We continued our walk on the opposite side of the stream, passing the ‘Geoffrey Smith Stone’ and all the beautiful colourful Primulas. From here we followed the path and headed up the grassy bank to the Sandstone gardens and ponds which were also awash with colour. It is just a short walk to the top footpath and Garden centre where we had a browse.

After leaving the garden centre the plan was to have brunch in Betty’s restaurant but we were advised there was a 50 minute queue so decided to pop into the cafe shop and bought some bits and pieces to take home. A lovely morning walk despite the thunderstorm in the middle of it.