Girly Trip To Harrogate
Harrogate in North Yorkshire is popularly known as an historic spa town. In the early days people from London came to take the waters, which were high in iron, and to view the nearby Yorkshire Dales. These days it known as a tourist attraction for the beautiful countryside, Betty's Tea Rooms, shopping, and the invigorating air of the Yorkshire beauty spots.
We stayed in The Crown Hotel, an old building slap in the centre of town alongside 'Valley Gardens' and overlooking 'The Stray'. 'Valley Gardens' is the main park, which covers the area where all the towns springs originate, and 'The Stray' is an enormous area of two hundred acres of gardens and woodland, which was originally the town racecourse and later became open land for the residents and visitors to enjoy.
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| The Crown Hotel |
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| The bedroom |
The shopping in Harrogate is rather unusual in that alongside the usual chain retailers there are some high end designer outlets, many independent stores, and lots of cafe culture venues. There are also some amazing restaurants. The town is predominantly Victorian and built in dark Yorkshire stone - a little depressing when it rains, and ... DID IT RAIN!!
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| Detail |
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| Shopping |
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| Betty's Tea Room |
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| Afternoon tea and cakes |
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| Weird and wacky cakes |
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| More weird cakes |
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| More wacky cakes |
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| Don't they look cute? |
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| Breads and cakes galore |
A particularly nice restaurant we found was The Tannin Level Bar and Bistro , where we all had a wonderful evening with excellent food and wine and these puddings below were eaten by two of the group - the good girls had no puddings at all!
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| Yummy |
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| Yummy |
We also spent some time at Rudding Park Hotel, Golf Club and Spa. This is a magnificent country house set in stunning gardens. A lovely tour of the hotel with a friend of the owner and some cocktails in the bar really enhanced our stay in Harrogate. Within the grounds is a charming Victorian Gothic Roman Catholic Church, a stunning golf course, and an elegant spa.
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| Rudding Park Hotel |
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| Chapel |
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| Sunset over Rudding Park |
And now for the shopping ....
To be continued ...
