With so many wonderful places on our doorstep in Leeds and Yorkshire, it is so often the case that we forget to visit the ones that are closest to us! For Charlotte and me, being north Leeds folk, we have decided this year to try to visit as many local attractions as possible and one of these is RHS Harlow Carr.

Set just outside Harrogate and with free parking and a Bettys tearoom (reviewed here) alongside an RHS Shop boasting a decent range of plants, books and general knick knacks, the gardens are essentially almost a bonus on top of everything else!

Sadly, pricewise, as with many other RHS places, Harlow Carr doesn’t come cheap. A ‘traditional’ 2:2 family gets in at £28.25, with any additional children costing slightly less. If you’re feeling brave, you can ask to pay the non donation charge and save a few quid!

For adults, it costs £11 and kids are £5.50 (again slightly cheaper if you take off the donation). So, when you get in, you need to make sure you spend enough time there to get your money’s worth. Of course, it is worth noting that if you are an RHS member (as I am) then you get in free.

While many formal gardens are not really kid friendly, this isn’t really the case at all here. In fact, there are even parent and child parking spots. Nobody here will shout at the kids if they run on the lawn.

Harlow Carr has beautiful flowers, garden set ups (including some fantastic little plant houses, the Alpine one being my favourite) and a range of other activities that make it suitable for the whole family.

These include a kids play area, bees (during the right season), kids facts dotted around, a hen ‘hotel’ and a range of other more interesting walks and activities that are put on throughout the year! If that fails then the promise of a cake from Bettys might do the trick (excuse my bad parenting!).

The different seasons provide a great range of other activities and help to demonstrate to little ones how the seasons change the world we live in. All in all, if you are looking for a family day out that will please everyone from grandparents (or great grandparents) down to toddlers and tiny babies, this is certainly a good place for you to try.

Entry times:

March – October 9.30am – 6pm

November – February 9.30am – 4pm

Address: Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG3 1QB