by Few towns display their Christmas decorations with the charm and panache of Harrogate. Perhaps it’s the mass of magnificent gritstone buildings and all the Victorian shop windows that seem from the past. My final destination is the Coach & Horses on West Park – which has changed its name to Sleigh & Reindeers for the Christmas season.
I start at the train station and head north, passing one of the country’s great cafes, Bettys. Looking inside I can see a dazzle of polished woodwork and brass, as well as bottles of prim staff dressed as if to serve Charles Dickens with cakes that bear names like ginger tart and rascal fat It always pains me to get such treats, but it’s too early in the walk to stop.
Going down the hill, I reach the reason for all this 19th century grandeur: the spa pump room. It is now a fascinating museum, but around the back is a brass tap where you can taste what made the town famous: the sulphurous stinking waters, seen by all Victorian medicine men as the ultimate cure for almost everything, except gullibility. A sign warns you not to test the water, but I do. It is terrible.
Looking inside Bettys, I can see bottles of prim staff dressed as if to serve Charles Dickens cakes that bear names like ginger tart and fat rascal.
Follow your nose through the impressive gates into the Glen Gardens and walk upstream past lovely beds of Gunnera manicata, “giant rhubarb”, covered up in winter to protect the rhizomes as it is a native Brazilian species. Every now and then a sulfur berry emerges from the belly, adding a wild volcanic edge to the landscaped surroundings. There are plenty of other examples of botanical bounty here: look out for dawn redwood, Wollemi pine and black mulberry. Some trees date back to the opening of the park in 1887, Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee. The park is also home to many of Harrogate’s 35 springs and wells, each with a distinctive mix of dissolved chemicals, and in its early days, a coterie of supporting quacks.
In 1571, William Slingsby started things up, identifying a healing water similar to the one he had sampled on his grand European tour. By the 1840’s the town had become a thriving resort for the rich, famous and the scandalous, all convinced that rigorous programs of spa water and enforced relaxation were the answer to their woes. The original exhibits of the Royal Pump Room Museum give the flavor: “The walk home can be advantageous if it can be done without undue fatigue.” Those physicians of yesteryear would have lost steam if they saw today’s joggers and power walkers overexerting themselves on the paths where the princes and princesses of Europe sometimes managed a listless hut.
I streak up the hill into the Pine Woods, a 31-hectare (76-acre) plantation where all the little birds suddenly fall silent and a sparrow hawk overhead. A mile later, I arrive at Harlow Carr, one of five Royal Horticultural Society show gardens. Plant enthusiasts will probably want to detour through the gardens, which are themselves built on sulfur springs.
If you come here after dark in December, there is an annual “Glow” light festival; apart from that there are some lovely walks around the kitchen, alpine and winter gardens. The cafe – Hooray! – is a branch of Bettys and makes the perfect lunch stop, although it can get busy and queues can form. There is a shop if you need takeaway for the evening ahead.
With its brass fittings and wood panelling, The Sleigh & Reindeers is Harrogate’s most famous pub, oozing with solidity and tradition.
Back on the way, take the public footpath north down towards Oak Beck. There is an opportunity to extend the day considerably by taking the Harrogate Link path on a four-mile diversion up to John of Gaunt’s castle at Beaver Dyke reservoir (the link eventually joins the Dales Way at Ilkley). With short winter days, however, it is best to turn east and follow the ridge of Birk Rock. Then, after crossing the road, take the narrow ginnel (we are in Yorkshire remember) down between large detached houses to the river. Turn right and follow the river through beautiful beech and oak woods, with the town golf course on the left.
This particular path is part of the Harrogate Circuit, and you could go down to the top of the river Nidd and continue for about five miles to Tadcaster (from where you can catch the train back to Harrogate ). Otherwise, head up the slope to re-emerge at the Glen Gardens.
The best ending to any walk now awaits. There is no doubt that visitors of yesteryear would go to the Royal Baths, where they might have a “Scotch douche” or “ozone therapy”, but since the baths are now a Chinese restaurant, the era is gone. that’s the Turkish baths. Opened in 1897, this magnificently ornate Victorian rendition of an Ottoman hammam comes with a steam room, cold pool and different relaxation areas at different temperatures. If you can time it right, this is a rewarding end to a not-too-tiring walk.
Google route map
Begin Harrogate train station
Finish Coach & Horses AKA Sleigh & Reindeers pub
Length 5.25 miles
Time 2.5 hours
Full ascent 207 meters
GPX route map at OS Maps
The pub
With its brass fittings and wood panelling, the Coach & Horses is a first class Harrogate pub, steeped in utility and tradition. Collections of old horse bits bear witness to a former coaching role – featured in the first guidebook to the town in 1840 – and there are views across the Strae (the 80 hectare park area on the southern edge of the town).
The Christmas name change should come as no surprise: the Cavendish & Horses pub (for the 2014 Tour de France, which started in Yorkshire) and Sunshine Desserts (due to the death of regular David Nobbs, writer of Reginald Perrin’s sitcom in the 1970s. ).
You can only go for a pint, but the food is the big draw here. Much of the fruit and veg comes from the Mount St John estate in North York County. Other ingredients also have a northern flavor: fish from Hartlepool, pheasant from Duncombe Park, and turkeys from the Yorkshire Wolds. Chefs Graeme Cuthell and Paweł Chekala put it all together with great love.
The beers are also local: Black Sheep from Masham and Copper Dragon from Skipton when I visited, but these cask ales rotate every two weeks.
Where to stay
Next door – and under the same ownership – is the smart and effortlessly efficient West Park hotel. Quality ooze rooms: excellent beds, linen and underfloor bathroom heating. Breakfast is served in the hotel’s fine restaurant overlooking the Strae.
Doubles from £76 single room, thewestparkhotel.com
