Millions of trees will blossom in Britain this month — but few will attract more attention than 100 or so cherry trees that form two avenues on the Stray in Harrogate.

The cherry blossom has become as much a highlight of the Harrogate calendar as the Christmas pantomime and the Great Yorkshire Show.

Thousands of people, including many Japanese, will flock to the town to walk up the avenues of pink bloom and feel spring arrive.

The trees were planted to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. When they matured, local people began making an annual pilgrimage to witness its seasonal magic. 

Save the trees

But in 2003 the trees seemed doomed.

Harrogate Borough Council declared the cherry trees were diseased and dying and proposed felling them.

That stirred the Stray Defence Association, never an organisation to under-estimate, into launching a save the trees campaign.

People, it said in campaign literature at the time, were “outraged”, adding: “These trees are one of the delights of Harrogate; there must be a solution which does not involve ridding the Stray of this glorious display.”

Chairman Judy d’Arcy Thompson, who was the association’s public relations officer at the time, approached the then head of Harrogate parks department who agreed to contact parks officials in Washington DC, where some 3,000 cherry trees sent as a gift of friendship from Japan were planted in 1912, for advice on saving the trees.

Ms d’Arcy Thompson adds:

'Candyfloss archways'

Association committee member Guy Tweedy, whose York Place home overlooks the Stray, agreed to fund replacements for about 30 damaged trees in 2005.

Mr Tweedy has continued to replace any diseased or vandalised trees, dedicating them to Thalidomide sufferers.

Since then, Harrogate’s cherry blossom has become more famous each year. BBC Gardeners’ World brought it to national prominence in 2015 and the Telegraph and Time Out have both included it on lists of the 10 best places in the UK to see cherry blossom.

Time Out said: “You’ll find candyfloss archways of perfect blossom all over the Stray: a 200-acre stretch of parkland in Yorkshire’s regal spa town.”

Blossom holds a special place in Japanese culture, signifying the transient nature of life, hence the high number of Japanese visitors. You can read more here. 

Photographer frenzy

The blossom has also become a magnet for artists and photographers. 

Ripon photographer Paul Oldham, who took our main image of model Halle Clarke on the Stray last year, plans to get there early to avoid the crowds.

Mr Oldham says:

“Last year I was asked if I could do a shoot with a lady wearing her mother’s wedding dress, so I obliged. This year, my aim is to photograph a dancer among the blossoms. For me, it’s about the ambience and beauty of the blossom and how the dancer interacts with it.”

Seventy-three years after the trees were planted, the cherry blossom has never been more popular.

Ms d’Arcy Thompson says: 

The blossom doesn't last long. Catch it this month before it vanishes for another year.