RHS Garden Harlow Carr — Attraction in Great Britain

What a wonderful place to visit, within walking distance of the centre of Harrogate! I came here on a coach trip, and stayed about two and a half hours. A lady at the entrance greeted us and gave us all a free map, which I found very helpful. Adult admission is £16.80 (it's £12.50 if you pre-book online), 5-16's get in for £5, and under-5's and RHS members go free. Lots of free parking. The garden is extensive, with well maintained tarmac and gravel paths, and a few hilly parts and steps, but most of it is wheelchair accessible, and you can hire a wheelchair or scooter at the entrance. Harlow Carr is a delight to explore, with colourful flower borders, a streamside walk, sandstone rock garden, lily ponds, a small lake, wildflower meadows, an arboretum, and much more. It all looked beautifully kept, the plants clearly labelled. I particularly loved strolling through woodland filled with lovely rhododendrons, azaleas, and other flowering shrubs, and relaxing on a swing bench among palms and exotic plants in the subtropical garden. There are plenty of wooden benches and shelters, picnic areas, toilets at the entrance and dotted around the garden, and a children's adventure playground and tree house in the woods. Three cafes, a garden centre and two gift shops. Betty's Tea House is the ideal place to chill: great view of the garden, and a good selection of drinks, cakes and sandwiches. The coffee was very good. Did not get to see all the gardens (you need at least three hours), but I thoroughly enjoyed wandering around them and getting close to nature. Will...

Ok, so-so and unbelievably crowded garden. Visited in mid October so maybe didn’t see it at its best. Having very recently visited Port Logan Botanical Gardens, I felt the planting for the most part was uninspiring and somewhat flat. Where was the immediate sense of delight and wonder that great gardens like Port Logan and indeed, RHS Hyde Hall provide even as you enter the garden? The site is alongside a fairly busy road - not much anyone could do about that - or could they? More money seems to have been poured into car parking and other buildings than into creative ways of managing the space. The real exception to this was the Gavin McDairmud garden and the area immediately surrounding it where planting and architecture really took off. The garden has suffered badly from floods in the past and an enormous amount of work is clearly being undertaken to mitigate the effects. I had the feeling the that the garden was still being established. As an RHS member I had access for free - I wouldn’t have felt great about paying to have seen this garden. Harlow Carr is clearly an extremely popular place and any number of people will disagree with this review. We visited on a Friday in October and it was heaving. The two ‘Betty’s’ outlets had 30 to 40 minute queues (tbf Betty’s in Harrogate itself had queues outside!) and seemed completely unable to cope with the number of visitors that the car parks accommodated. Booking slots on the RHS website were 9.30-17.00. Might it be an idea to go back to hourly entrance...

RHS Garden Harlow Carr is a large garden near Harrowgate that offers an opportunity to wander through several settings with highly varied plants.

The first part of our visit through the teaching garden, lakeside garden, and queen mother’s lake were somewhat underwhelming. Nice settings and layout features, but either too early in the season for vibrancy or presence of the flora.

RHS Harlow Carr is one of most northerly RHS sites in the UK, and rain was below average when we visited. Still, one would expect more flowers in bloom by late May. The visual displays improved as we walked along the streamside area. Most garden areas have plenty of space to walk around and see diverse micro-habitats, although the design of the Lakeside garden might easily create congestion during busy days.

We enjoyed walking up through the woodland area, and paid close attention to the variety of tall trees in the arboretum (Douglas Fir, Red Cedar, etc.). We also spent considerable time in the vegetable patch (kitchen garden) with its many varieties of lettuce and other edibles. Interesting how RHS keeps insects and animals away, and how it has created “hotels” for beneficial bugs. The Alpine House is an interesting feature of high altitude plants, some of which were showing their colours when we visited.

RHS Harlow Gate also has an excellent plant centre and shop, with a huge variety of soaps, foods, and other merchandise.

Visited in...