This article is sponsored by RHS Garden Harlow Carr

As summer begins to bloom in the Harrogate district, don’t forget to add these dates to your diary!

In the last year, RHS Harlow Carr has been a wonderful place for local residents to enjoy the fresh air. As the seasons change and restrictions lift, Harlow Carr is increasing its capacity for visitors.

As well as being a spectacular place to connect with nature, the garden is now able to plan special events and activities again. These give people the opportunity to source wonderful locally-produced items and also develop their own skills and discover new pastimes.

In the Bath House from 22 May to 27 June, the Designer Makers Market features original art and crafts by local practitioners, including textiles, ceramics, glass, paper collage and wood art to browse and buy.

Visitors can also enjoy daily demonstrations by visiting artists. The Bath House is open every day and admission is included with garden entry.

For those who found solace in creativity during lockdown, the RHS has the perfect programme of courses and workshops to develop your skills further. Each course is led by a friendly and knowledgeable tutor and places are limited. There’s a whole host of topics covered, starting on 24 June with an Introduction to permaculture.

For avid gardeners, other courses include one focused on aquatic plants and ponds on 7 July, advanced propagation on 15 July and a range of other one day workshops on different aspects of growing and garden design. Creative craft workshops include floristry, textiles, printing, photography and wood carving.

The garden will also be welcoming Harrogate & Ripon Beekeepers Association for a number of one day courses through the year, which will inspire many more keen gardeners to foster these vital pollinators.

The full courses and workshops programme has been confirmed for the rest of 2021, so why not take a look and see if you can find inspiration in them?

The Garden Centre at Harlow Carr stocks a comprehensive range of plants, seeds and tools and the friendly team is always on hand to offer advice, giving visitors the opportunity to take inspiration home to their own garden. The shop also stocks a beautiful range of high quality gifts, stationery and books. The garden centre and shop can be visited without booking a garden ticket.

Watch this space for more 2021 events and garden features which will be announced in the coming weeks. Whether you’re an avid gardener, a complete beginner, or someone who doesn’t garden but likes to admire the amazing work of the horticultural team at Harlow Carr, there is always a reason to visit.

Christmas is certainly not cancelled in the Harrogate district. There are plenty of events still going ahead this festive season despite the restrictions.

Under the tier two rules large events can go ahead with 1,000 capacity indoors and 2,000 outdoors.

While it is unlikely that these events will draw in close to those numbers, some have sold out already but there’s plenty more to do.

Drive in cinema at Ripley Village

What-a-movie is returning this Christmas after a successful series of screenings in the summer.

This time Ripley Village, between Harrogate and Ripon, will be the venue of choice for seven Christmas movies on December 19 and 20.

There will be contactless ticket scanning on entry, marshalled parking in bays and snacks can be delivered to cars.

Glow at RHS Harlow Carr

RHS Harlow Carr is holding a special lights event called Glow every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings up to Christmas.

It will also be open three days before new year. Tickets are currently sold out but with some last minute cancellations spaces do occasionally become available.

This year the lights are extended to include the entire length of the streamside and illuminates Harlow Carr’s iconic features.

Read more:

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Festivities at Fountains Abbey

Sticking with the theme of lights, Fountains Abbey is also holding a special Christmas event this year.

Every weekend in December and from Boxing Day to January 1 the National Trust site near Ripon will be open for a full festive day.

When the sun starts to go down the abbey will glow with bright and colourful lights and while there will be no bands or choirs there will be Christmas songs for a sing a long.

Lightwater Valley Christmas events

Lightwater Valley is also holding a Festive Family Fun day which has been running since the end of November.

The park is lit up with giant lanterns, illuminated sculptures with an Alice in Winterland theme.

There is also a stage featuring festive visitors and puppet performances and rides will be open if the weather allows.

Lightwater Valley manager Colin Bowes recently confirmed that he had added additional dates after a spike in interest.

Enchantica virtual sing along

Tinsel the Elf and Father Christmas, who are normally part of Harlow Carr’s grotto are also going virtual this year.

The pair have produced a festive sing along video to capture the magic of the grotto. It will give children the opportunity to tell Santa what they would like for Christmas.

It is a 20 minute show that starts with a personalised greeting for up to four children and Tinsel will take them on a visit to Santa at the North Pole.

A new bridge will be unveiled at RHS Garden Harlow Carr on Monday.

The bridge, which was built by Harrogate dry stone waller Neil Beasley in four months over lockdown, has been named the Friendship Bridge.

The name is in recognition of a £10,000 donation from the Friends of Harlow Carr, which paid for half of the £20,000 costs.

The Royal Horticultural Society, which is the gardening charity that owns RHS Garden Harlow Carr, paid for the other half.

The centerpiece of the design, which was drawn up by Leeds master craftsman David Griffiths, represents the head of a flower, with stone petals surrounding a central stonework arch,

The Geoffrey Smith memorial stone is positioned at one end of the bridge wall as a lasting testament to the former garden curator, who died in 2009.

Paul Cook, curator at RHS Garden Harlow Carr, said: 

“We now have a beautiful new piece of artwork, which has been handcrafted in Yorkshire stone using traditional dry stone walling techniques.

“As well as being a thing of beauty in itself, the work will help to alleviate surface flooding problems.”

The new bridge was built with freshly quarried Yorkshire stone along with stone from the structure that it replaced.

Mr Beasley previously created Harlow Carr’s garden entrance feature and monoliths on the corner of Crag Lane and Otley Road, which were also designed by David Griffiths. 

Read more: 

• Plant wildflowers on the Stray, says Green Party
• Ripon Cathedral artwork tells Bible stories in stitches

The RHS Chelsea flower has been cancelled for the first time since World War Two.

Instead there will be a virtual flower show about “sharing gardening knowledge” which will go online to the public tomorrow.

With this in mind, The Stray Ferret gained access to the RHS garden at Harlow Carr to provide a virtual tour of the secret paradise that lies behind closed doors.