It was a cold damp afternoon as we set off for RHS Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate, unfortunately, due to the time of day, late afternoon, there was much more traffic on the road than earlier in the day, especially so as we neared Harrogate, what is usually a good fifty-minute journey took us one and a half hours today. It was five o’clock as I ordered a coffee from Betty’s restaurant adjacent to the entrance to the gardens.

After showing our pre booked tickets to the entrance staff we headed outside, down the slope and followed the markers towards the QM lake. The array of colours that hit you as we left the relative warmth of the reception area was quite breathtaking. Purples, reds, white’s, greens, and blues to name but a few filled the dark and cloudy sky. Tonight, was the first night of the ‘Glow Spectacular’ which runs from Wednesday evening till Saturday until the end of December from 4.30pm – 8.30pm. 

We visit the gardens several times a year but to see the gardens at night is quite spectacular with the tree canopies awash with colour. The views from the main entrance looking down towards the summer house is quite special as are the views looking across the ‘Queen Mothers Lake’, the reflections of the trees in the lake are beautiful from the Thaliana bridge. Before crossing the bridge, we followed the route up to the sunken Edwardian gardens, the lighting in the shelter was amazing especially the white lights reflecting off the black sky giving the garden a new perspective and the lighting around the pond highlighted some of the plants that we somehow do not see during the daylight hours. I thought this part of the garden looked better floodlit than it does during the daytime. On leaving the sunken garden, we headed down the slope to the ‘new Thaliana bridge’ which was very cleverly floodlit with a variety of colours, we stopped on the bridge for a few moments to admire all the colours and the reflections on the water. After walking around the lake our route took us past the ‘Logness Monster’ which this year had been illuminated to enable children to play on it whilst visiting. We continued our walk along the ‘Winter route’ stopping to admire the views looking across the stream towards the summerhouse and main borders. On the left amongst the trees three deer were nicely illuminated, the lighting alongside the stream was dramatic and very effective, the York stone bridges looked very good, the white lighting highlighting the shape and form of the brickwork. On the left of the streamside trail the Doric Columns were bathed in a white light, with the surrounding trees highlighted in greens, white, red, and purple lighting. The views looking over the stream to the right towards the gardens entrance were just as colourful the red, green, white and purples highlighting the shrubs and trees in a dramatic and colourful fashion, especially set against the black night sky. The ‘field of gold’ set on the main lawn was new this year and looked very effective. After a few moments we were walking down the slope to the ‘Old Bath House’ where an arts and crafts exhibition was taking place. ‘Bettys Tea House’ was nicely floodlit and busily selling a host of festive refreshments, the mulled wine was very warming and welcoming.

Suitably refreshed we headed up the slope towards the ‘Kitchen Garden’. The Alpine greenhouse changing colour every few minutes with reds, greens and blues filling the night sky. After walking under one of the illuminated arches we paused for a few moments to admire the lighting across the main lawns and leading across to the Doric columns at the other side of the stream.

The ‘Glow event’ is a lovely reminder that Christmas is just around the corner and a wonderful place to spend a couple of hours with the family, wrap up warm though.