The Valley Gardens, opposite the Royal Pump Room, is a pretty, popular strolling space with a cafe serving ice cream, pitch-and-putt golf and a bandstand hosting concerts on Sunday afternoons from June to August. But it wasn't always so pleasant – it used to be called Bogs Field, and is where 35 of Harrogate's pongy natural springs were discovered in the 19th century. During Victorian times a competition was held to reinvent the area as a pleasure ground.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
27.6 MILES
Stately homes may be two a penny in England, but you'll have to try pretty damn hard to find one as breathtakingly stately as Castle Howard, a work of…
19.13 MILES
York Minster is the largest medieval cathedral in northern Europe, and one of the world's most beautiful Gothic buildings. Seat of the archbishop of York,…
26.3 MILES
One of England's most impressive collections of sculpture is scattered across the formidable 18th-century estate of Bretton Park, 200-odd hectares of…
Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal
8.47 MILES
The alluring and strangely obsessive water gardens of the Studley Royal estate were built in the 18th century to enhance the picturesque ruins of 12th…
18.59 MILES
York's National Railway Museum – the biggest in the world, with more than 100 locomotives – is well presented and crammed with fascinating stuff. It is…
19.25 MILES
Interactive multimedia exhibits aimed at bringing history to life often achieve exactly the opposite, but the much-hyped Jorvik manages to pull it off…
25.36 MILES
In the secluded valley of the River Rye about 3 miles west of Helmsley, amid fields and woods loud with birdsong, stand the magnificent ruins of Rievaulx…
13.92 MILES
Leeds' most interesting museum was originally built in 1996 to house armour and weapons from the Tower of London, but subsequently expanded to cover 3000…
Nearby attractions
0.08 MILES
You can learn all about Harrogate's history as a spa town in the ornate Royal Pump Room, built in 1842 over the most famous of the town's sulphurous…
0.17 MILES
The most attractive part of town is the Montpellier Quarter, overlooking Prospect Gardens between Crescent Rd and Montpellier Hill. It's an area of…
3. Harlow Carr Botanical Gardens
1.31 MILES
A huge green thumbs-up to Harrogate's gardeners: the town has some of the most beautiful public gardens in England. Flower fanatics should make for the…
4. Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal
8.47 MILES
The alluring and strangely obsessive water gardens of the Studley Royal estate were built in the 18th century to enhance the picturesque ruins of 12th…
8.8 MILES
St Mary's is a neogothic jewel designed by William Burgess and built in 1871; ask the attendant to point out the trademark mouse carved into the stone of…
12.04 MILES
The Abbey House Museum, once the Great Gate House to Kirkstall Abbey, contains meticulously reconstructed shops and houses that evoke Victorian Leeds,…
12.14 MILES
Leeds' most impressive medieval structure is beautiful Kirkstall Abbey, founded in 1152 by Cistercian monks from Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire. These…
13.35 MILES
This major gallery is packed with 19th- and 20th-century British heavyweights – Turner, Constable, Stanley Spencer, Wyndham Lewis et al – along with…