This morning we headed over to RHS Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate for a walk and breath of fresh air. I had been up earlier in the morning with Meg & Gracie for their early morning walk. The weather sempt to be quite changeable though the temperature gauge in the garden was reading 10C, it was quiet a pleasant mild morning, compared to Wednesday, two days ago, when the same gauge was reading -3C and bitterly cold.

It was just after 10.30am when we arrived in the car park at Harlow Carr, the temperature had risen a couple of degrees and was a barmy 12C, with a gentle westerly breeze, the sun had just started to break through the cloud and every now and then there was a glimpse of blue sky. I popped into Bettys for a couple of coffees and cake for our ramble around the gardens.  

After leaving the reception area we headed outside, passing the huge colourful heather bed on the left, the heather cultivars have knitted tightly together to give a seamless mix of colours.  Even when not in flower they give an eye-catching effect, from zingy golds to glaucous greys and vibrant greens. We continued on our way and headed towards the library and learning centre. There was a lot of work being carried out around the site today with some major work continuing along the streamside footpath, it looks as though they are going to start to refurbish and rebuild one of the stone bridges over the stream. We continued on our walk to the sunken Victorian Garden, where much of the winter grasses had been cut back to ground level since our last visit. The heathers and Dogwood shrubs were looking exceptionally colourful in the borders. We continued following the path down to the QM lake and crossed the new footbridge over the water, the bridge certainly gives a new perspective to the lake. We followed the path around the water’s edge to the streamside walk. Large clumps of miniature daffodils provided some colour, along with crocus, yellow primroses, and miniature violets. Lots of tiny snowdrops and hellebores added additional colour along with the miniature Irises. Scent of Daphne’s drifted through the air and the delicate pink flowers of the Vibrums added additional colour. The ‘Streamside walk’ is always a nice walk, no matter what time of year, though today major landscaping was taking place and probably will be for the remainder of March and into April.  In a few weeks’ time the Primula’s will be flowering adding more colour to this beautiful stretch of garden.

On reaching the Old Bath House we were going to continue up the slope in to the Arboretum but as the weather had taken a turn for the worse we decided to head back to the visitors shop and garden centre for a spot of brunch.