Several of the Harrogate district’s most popular visitor attractions are offering free or half price admission until Sunday.
National Lottery Open Week is being staged to thank lottery players for contributing to good causes.
Places that have benefited from lottery funding, including Fountains Abbey in Ripon, RHS Harlow Carr and Ripon Museum Trust are among those taking part.
RHS Harlow Carr
Anyone who presents a lottery ticket or scratch card (digital or physical) at the National Trust-owned Fountains Abbey‘s visitor reception can visit the historic site for free.
Fountains Abbey. Photo: J Shepherd
RHS Harlow Carr is offering 2-for-1 entry for anyone that presents their lottery ticket or scratch card.
Ripon Museum Trust is offering a 50% discount to lottery players on Saturday to individuals and family groups that show a National Lottery ticket or scratch card on arrival at its three venues. They are the Liberty Courthouse, Prison & Police and Workhouse museums
Helen Thornton, museum trust director, said:
“We’ve been fortunate to receive National Lottery funding which enabled us to purchase the Workhouse Museum site and also to progress our future development plans.
“This is our way of saying thank you to everyone who has bought a National Lottery ticket, helped us on our journey and made a vital contribution to supporting good causes.”
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Darren Henley, chief executive of Arts Council England and chair of the National Lottery Forum, added:
“The National Lottery Open Week is a fantastic opportunity for hundreds of venues and projects across the UK to say thanks to players who raise £30 million each week for good causes.”
Further details about National Lottery Open Week available here.
Hotel closures deliver blow to Ripon tourismThe Old Deanery Hotel’s closure early next year, combined with the closing of Ripon’s Spa Hotel, is a double blow to the city’s tourism sector.
As the city slowly emerges from lockdown, concerns have been raised about its future tourism prospects with a reduced choice for overnight visitors.
Tourism in Yorkshire and Humber is worth more than the whole tourism expenditure in Ireland or Denmark, while the number of people in the region employed in the sector is approximately 250,000.
Visitors are drawn to Ripon’s ancient church of St Peter and St Wilfrid, known as the Cathedral of the Dales, and the city’s heritage includes the world-famous nightly Hornblower ceremony.
As operators of visitor attractions look to the future, there are concerns about the loss of the bed spaces that they provided.
Ripon’s Prison and Police Museum
Helen Thornton, director of Ripon Museum Trust, which runs The Workshouse Museum, The Prison & Police Museum and Old Courthouse Museum, told the Stray Ferret:
“Covid-19 has impacted all tourism sectors and it is perhaps too early to say what the long-term picture will be. The closure of two hotels in Ripon is very sad and the decision must have been really hard but understandable given the circumstances we have all faced.
“I think it has long been acknowledged that a tourism city like Ripon could do with more hotel beds to develop the cultural and heritage tourism offer further. Undoubtedly Ripon as a whole would benefit from more hotel beds.”
The trust re-opened its heritage attractions in mid-July and secured the Visit England’s ‘Good to Go’ kitemark for all the Covid-19 safety measures put in place to keep visitors, staff and volunteers safe.
Helen added:
“We are cautiously pleased with our performance in August. We didn’t know what to expect in terms of numbers but so far so good! We certainly did have tourists visiting who were ‘staycationers’, staying in the area in a variety of accommodation types.”
The trust has benefited from Heritage Lottery funding and works with organisations including Welcome to Yorkshire, Visit Harrogate and we other attractions in Ripon and the surrounding area, to promote the city-wide offer.
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Richard Compton, the owner of Newby Hall on the outskirts of Ripon, is also saddened by the loss of two hotels, but remains optimistic.
He said:
“There are many new ways nowadays through which people stay in a particular place to enjoy the tourism offer – AirBnB for example – and I hope that the hotels will re-emerge in some form or other as places that welcome visitors to stay so that they can service Ripon’s tourism offer.”
The Stray Ferret asked Ripon’s MP Julian Smith if he had any support to offer to operators of tourist and visitor attractions in his constituency, but no response was received by the time of publication.
Attractions prepare to open gates to visitorsA one-way system and additional staffing will be implemented to enable Grewelthorpe’s Himalayan Gardens and Sculpture Park to re-open tomorrow.
The visitor attraction – named Yorkshire in Bloom Tourist Attraction of the Year in 2018 and 2019 – features more than 80 outdoor sculptures around its grounds. Operations manager Naomi Hutchinson said it could only open if visitors follow social distancing guidelines:
“We believe that being outdoors and in beautiful gardens is restorative and important for people’s wellbeing. It can be a source of much-needed tranquillity in these super anxious times, and with 45 acres, the Himalayan Gardens offers the open space needed.
“We are however mindful that the safety of visitors and our staff is our number one priority. We’re pleased to welcome visitors and that they won’t miss out on the final blooms of spring, but our re-opening depends on all following the social distancing rules.”
The gardens’ new one-way system has been created using natural materials including stones, plant pots and wooden signs. While public toilets will be open, with social distancing in place, and plants will be on sale, the tea rooms will remain closed for the first week.
A booking system will also be in place to control numbers, so visitors will need to book in advance for a specified day via the attraction’s website.
Huge demand
Meanwhile, Newby Hall is set to open its grounds from Wednesday for season ticket holders, and from Saturday for the public. Its other attractions, including the railway, restaurant and teddy bears exhibition, will remain closed, and additional safety measures will be in place for visitors, including more toilets.
Booking will be essential, with slots set to go on sale on Newby Hall’s website on Tuesday, June 2.
Newby Hall and the Himalayan Gardens are the latest tourist attractions to announce they are opening their gates. RHS Garden Harlow Carr last week saw huge demand for access to its grounds as it opened bookings on its website.
The National Trust has not yet opened its properties in the Harrogate district, but slots to visit others around the country sold out quickly last week.
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