RHS Harlow Carr

Harlow Carr is the garden to visit if you garden in the north and want to see what really thrives there. It began in 1950 as the Northern Horticultural Society's trial ground, set up to test which plants would succeed in northern climates, and that practical purpose still shapes the place. The planting is chosen for Yorkshire weather rather than a mild southern county, so the ideas travel well to gardens across northern England and Scotland.

Most visitors follow the Streamside down through moisture-loving planting, then loop round the Queen Mother's Lake, crossing the Thaliana Bridge, whose design follows the chromosome sequence of the little weed Arabidopsis thaliana. Paths carry on into the woodland, the arboretum and the wildflower meadow with its bird hide. Nearer the main buildings are the Kitchen Garden, Scented Garden, Foliage Garden, Ornamental Grasses border, seasonal annual and perennial displays and the Alpine House. Look out for the Gardens through Time, and for the Limestone Rock Garden in front of the Old Bath House, where the old spa wells are capped beneath the rocks and a faint smell of sulphur sometimes drifts up.

For home gardeners, the Winter Walk and Winter Garden are worth studying for bark, coloured stems and scent in the darkest months, and the grasses border shows how to keep structure going into autumn. The humus-rich terraces are useful if you garden on acid, woodland-type soil. Any visitor can browse the library in the Learning Centre, and there is a plant centre and shop for anything that catches your eye. Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms are on site, and the restored Harrogate Arms reopened as a cafe in 2024.