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Garden Owners,
Please copy this information and paste it into an email to:   wb [at] armchair-travel [dot] com

Please make any changes in BRIGHT RED in your email back to us.

Regards,
Armchair Travel Co Ltd
http://www.armchair-travel.com
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Garden Name: The Valley Gardens - Harrogate
Last Modified: 10/02/2010
Garden ID: 0444

pic: 0444_ValleyHarrogate.jpg

Owner: Harrogate Borough Council
Address:
Harrogate


Postcode: HG2 0QB
County: Yorkshire

tel: 01423 500600
fax: 01423 556720
website: www.harrogate.gov.uk
email: sue.wood {at} gw.harrogate.gov.uk

Features: 
Spa wells and Pump House, Sun Pavilion and colonnades, Elgar Walk, Floral displays, shrub & tree collection and a Pinetum.
Alan Titchmarsh has recently named the Valley Gardens as his favourite public park.
Awarded Gold Medal in Entente Florale competition (Europe in Bloom) in June 2004.
Gardens lead on into Pinewoods and link to RHS Harlow Carr on a mile walk, on pathways.

English Heritage Grade:
II

Opening Times:
Open all year, 7 days a week. Valley gardens is a public park.

Best Times of Year to Visit: 


To see: 


National Collection: 


National Garden Scheme days: No
Comments: 

Parties / Coaches: Yes 
Comments: 

Viewing by Appointment: no
Comments:  

House Open for Viewing: No
Comments: 

Admission Prices:
Free.

Parking: Yes
Lavatories: Yes
Disabled Access: Yes
Shop: No
Plants for Sale: No
Lunches: No
Teas: Yes
Refreshments: Yes
Picnics: Yes
Dogs allowed: Yes
Only on Lead: Yes
Events: Yes

Other Facilities:
Tennis, Children's play area (to be redeveloped), Crazy Golf Pitch & Putt, Band concerts and Boating Pool.
Friends of the Valley Gardens - For further information, call Kate Dawson on 0845 300 6091.
Skate Park and BMX facility to be installed by end 2010


Designer: 
Description of Garden:
The Valley Gardens and the Pinewoods cover some 17 acres and display alpine rarities in spring, a romantic rhododendron dell, seasonal bedding displays, and a magnificent dahlia display in late summer. Part of the Valley Gardens is known as Bogs field where it is believed that a greater number of mineral springs come to the surface than any other known place on earth. 36 of Harrogate's 88 mineral wells are found within the gardens, with no two being alike.


History: 
The area remained in a primitive state until 1778 when Bogs Field became part of Harrogate's famous Stray - a large piece of open common land in the centre of the town. Gradually the area was improved and furnished with a solid footpath in 1847 and the most important wells with stone well-heads. The first pump room for the Magnesia Well was built in 1858 and the verges of the footpath planted out to a design by the Council's Surveyor, incorporating features proposed by a number of other designers in 1886/7. The new Magnesia Pump Room, (now the cafe) was built in 1895. Alderman Binns forcibly incorporated a large area of council land into the gardens by knocking down the dividing wall himself one night in 1911. Subsequently the Sun Pavilion and Colonnades were built on this 'extension' in 1933. Bogs Field had been much improved by the addition of circular flower beds and walks in the 1920s. After WWII a wide variety of botanical specimens were planted and in 1957 the Christchurch Botanical Gardens in New Zealand generously donated a host of specimens which were planted in the New Zealand Garden, constructed for the purpose. The botanical collection of climbing plants has been replanted in the Colonnades, restoring part of the original concept of the attractive and sheltered walkways in the Gardens. The Valley Gardens was the home of the Harrogate Spring Flower Show for almost seventy years.

Local Inns: 
Old Bell Tavern
Auctioneer

Accomodation: 
Crown Hotel
Old Swan Hotel
White Hart

Restaurants: 


Village/Town/Sightseeing: 
RHS Harlow Carr
Spa town of Harrogate
Royal Pump Room
Turkish Baths