RHS Harlow Carr

The first stop our recent mini-break to Yorkshire was Harlow Carr, a RHS garden just outside Harrogate. Driving through the town I was enchanted by the cherry blossom avenues on the Stray, and would have liked to stop and walk along them, but these days everything hinges round timed entry slots and we had only a 30 minute arrival window for Harlow Carr. 

This is the first RHS garden I've visited so I don't know how typical it is. My initial impression was, to be honest, one of disappointment. From the entrance it seemed to be little more than a council park with large grassed areas edged by flower beds. Admittedly the plants in those beds are probably a more carefully curated mix than those found in the average park, but overall the feel was the same. I'm not a plant specialist and to me a common daffodil blowing merrily in the breeze is as pretty as a rare new variety, so maybe some of it was wasted on me. 

There were lots of unusual plants - erythroniums, and a mass planting of crown imperial fritillaries - and interesting little 'garden rooms',  but I felt something was lacking in the overall design; perhaps that elusive rightness that comes from feng-shui.  

I preferred the older, established wooded areas, with primroses growing 'wild' beneath rhododendrons, and temple 'ruins' to accidentally stumble across (unless you were using the map)

And, of course, we ended up in the kitchen garden area, though the crops being grown looked more for show or demonstration purposes than practical harvests to supply the cafe, and were interspersed with daffodils and tulips.

I'm not sure what the 'purpose' of the RHS display gardens is  - maybe the emphasis in on informing the public, demonstrating new techniques or design ideas - but Harlow Carr didn't compare favourably in my mind with other large scale gardens such as Chatsworth, Bodnant or Powis Castle. Next I plan to visit the new garden in Salford, which should be interesting.