Non-motoring > Harrogate Miscellaneous
Thread Author: borasport Replies: 20
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 Thu 6 Oct 11 11:26 
 Harrogate - borasport
Off there for a long weekend, we may well visit Harlow Carr and have a day in York - has naybody any other recommendations for things to do ?
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 Thu 6 Oct 11 11:38 
 Harrogate - Old Navy
The national railway museum if you are into things mechanical or it is raining.

www.nrm.org.uk/

Or Fountains Abbey, walks in the countryside, gardens, cafe, etc.

www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 6 Oct 11 at 11:38
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 Thu 6 Oct 11 11:38 
 Harrogate - Bromptonaut
Knaresborough is worth a visit.
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 Thu 6 Oct 11 12:22 
 Harrogate - Iffy
The village of Ripley is only a mile or two north of Harrogate.

Apart from the castle, there are a few local produce shops, an excellent tea room and riverside walks.

There's often something on to look at, a gymkhana, a vintage car rally or local show.

No visit to Harrogate is complete without a visit to Betty's Tea Rooms.

There's a branch at Harlow Carr, but the real experience can only be had at HQ.

Betty's is the Apple Computers of tea rooms, over-priced, over-rated, but very, very good all the same.

www.bettys.co.uk/bettys_harrogate.aspx
Last edited by: Iffy on Thu 6 Oct 11 at 12:24
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 Thu 6 Oct 11 12:39 
 Harrogate - Mike Hannon
>>Knaresborough is worth a visit<<

On a coach years ago, heading for a John Player League match in Scarborough Festival Week, my mate said 'ere, I think we've just a passed a road sign that said Knackersbury'...
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 Thu 6 Oct 11 12:39 
 Harrogate - Manatee
>> Betty's is the Apple Computers of tea rooms, over-priced, over-rated, but very, very good all
>> the same.

Very good snapshot. Four of us went to Betty's in Northallerton back in May, for a tea/coffee, sandwich and cake. We just about manged to get out for less than £50 I think.

If you don't fancy that, just go in the shop and get a Fat Rascal ;-)

www.bettys.co.uk/product/Bettys-Fat-Rascals,19172,37.aspx

Ignore the bit about butter, eat it straight out of the bag.
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 Thu 6 Oct 11 12:45 
 Harrogate - Iffy
...Four of us went to Betty's in Northallerton back in May, for a tea/coffee, sandwich and cake. We just about manged to get out for less than £50 I think...

You should have called into the caravan - I'd have charged you less than that.
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 Thu 6 Oct 11 12:40 
 Harrogate - sooty123
I haven't been to Harrogate for a while but I was in york for a couple of nights. Plenty of history and museums if you are into that. Crowds are quite big throughout the year particularly school trips from around the world. Cliffords tower, a walk on the castle walls, jorvik centre, the yorkshire regimental museum, plenty of places to eat. If your thinking of staying overnight there and are feeling flush try the cedar court grand we splashed out and got a suite, very nice it was. Where ever you go in york I'm sure you'll like it.
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 Thu 6 Oct 11 12:55 
 Harrogate - Snakey
Nice Italian restaurant called Joe Rigatonis - we always pop in there on a visit to Harrogate!

We usually look at the queue for Bettys and just buy some Fat Rascals to take home.
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 Thu 6 Oct 11 14:59 
 Harrogate - helicopter
I refused to pay Bettys exorbitant prices in York and found that the National Trust Trasurers House next to the Minster sold beautiful home made scones and cakes at a fraction of the cost in a beautiful setting.

SWMBO wanted two scones with her cream tea and was told that she could order a second if she managed to eat the first..... when we saw the size of them we realised why....one was quite enough even for me.

As far as Harrogate attractions go......

tinyurl.com/6yrppr8
Last edited by: retpocileh on Thu 6 Oct 11 at 14:59
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 Mon 10 Oct 11 18:52 
 Harrogate - borasport
Thanks for all the input, we had a very good weekend thank you.

It came about as I had earned a couple of 'free' nights with Premier inns, and this was her location of choice- I can report that the Harrogate PI is as good (as a Premier inn) gets apart from pretty dire serive at breakfast time, and shares its carpark with Hornbeam Park station, which is a 3 minute, £1.20 train journey into the town.
Actually, I do have a grouch about the PI - brewing equipment in the room, with two microsachets of sugar, so I pick up a few more at breakfast so I can have a decent brew when we get back, only to find that they have been removed - this is apprentely, according to the receptionist, because the cleaner is required to 'reset the room to standard'

It widdled it down consistently over the three days, but we had a good time -

Saturday, Valley Gardens for a bit of damp, fresh air (tamest squirrels I've ever seen), Pump Room Museum (find the tap ouside and sniff the draught - it'll put you off the water) - Mercer Art Gallery - value for money (it's free) had a 'challenging' exhibition of young artists and an underpromoted exhibition of prints inspired by the discovery of the York Hoard of silver from a few years ago - what nothing makes clear, AFAIK, is that this exhibition actually includes the York Hoard, which was worth going to see on its own, then some retail therapy - the immediate future will determine if the chocolate from Hotel du Chocolat deserves its price tag. Ate at the Jinnah, very good curry, nice place, but I'd be impressied if you can distinguish one dish from another by reading the menu

Sunday, Ripley Castle, guided tour, lunch at the Castle Tearooms, then round the gardens and grounds, quite interesting as these things go, then off to Brimham Rocks. Ate at the Harrogate Brasserie, good food, selection of motoring magazines and a copy of P J O'Rourkes 'how to drive like crazy...' avaialbe for casual readers, very good jazz duo playing, but the table of diners opposite provided even more entertainmnet - I thought the phrase 'hooray henry' died out a while ago, but not in Harrogate, obviously

Monday - wetter then ever, so the planned visit to Harlow Carr is on hold for another time and it's off to the Royal Armouries at Leeds - an impressive (free !) museum that would be orders of magnitude better if they ripped all the loudspeakers out and replaced them with some other form of peronalised audio presentation - perhaps it's just me, but I find it difficult to read or examine something when I can hear two or more audio presentations, plus distant sound effect, plus her talking, plus multiple parties of students, plus a number of exhibits that generate their own sound effects. I think I might go back, wearing earplugs ;-) !!!

And I have a question someone may help me with - the Leeds road system, the planners din't have any previous experience with rats and laboratory test, did they ?


Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 17 Oct 11 at 01:19
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 Mon 10 Oct 11 18:55 
 Harrogate - borasport
p.s.

not wishing to join the queue for Betty's, we found Jenny's tea rooms in Montpelier Mews - it was everything I want from a tearoom, without overpricing or crowding, my poached eggs on toast were as desired, but the bagel with scrambled eggs and bacon that I saw going to another table had me feeling jealous
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 Mon 10 Oct 11 19:49 
 Harrogate - Manatee
>>not wishing to join the queue for Betty's, we found Jenny's tea rooms in Montpelier Mews

Good call. We usually avoid Betty's combination of queueing and wallet-lightening. We only went in May because we were accompanying friends, who had never been north of the Trent, to Northumberland!

We brought them back via Richmond, Leyburn, Hawes, Hubberholme and Skipton. I think we converted them to Tykeism.
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 Mon 10 Oct 11 19:24 
 Harrogate - Iffy
...And I have a question someone may help me with - the Leeds road system, the planners din't have any previous experience with rats and laboratory test, did they ?...

I'm not often in Leeds, but I've never grasped the centre.

I think part of the problem is the numbered junctions of the City Centre Loop are too easy to confuse with the Inner Ring Road, which itself is part motorway, part dual carriageway, and part shopping streets.

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 Mon 10 Oct 11 20:21 
 Harrogate - FocalPoint
I can second the Royal Armouries in Leeds - a cracking day out! Also, the Thackray Medical Museum, which emphasises the social/historical aspects of disease and health - surprisingly entertaining. Also, Tropical World in Roundhay Park - good for a couple of hours.

As for driving in Leeds (which I do from time to time, as my eldest son lives there), I gave up trying to understand the road system some time ago. In fact, it was a major influence in my decision to buy a satnav. Dual carriageways fly over or under each other, you're usually in the wrong lane, slip-roads peel off slip-roads, bends are tight and you can't see where your next turn is, you twist and turn so you lose all sense of direction. It's a nightmare. And I drove across Naples once - in the rush hour, without a map. Mind you, that was a nightmare too - of a different kind.
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 Mon 10 Oct 11 21:03 
 Harrogate - borasport
and they appear to have adopted the continental habit of putting signposts after the junctions !
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 Mon 10 Oct 11 21:13 
 Harrogate - R.P.
Some of you may recall I spent two weeks there in a home for the bewildered and confused in '09 - went there on the VFR800 I then had, couldn't have asked for a better automotive companion, a pussy cat in the town centre where I dropped down to daily and an absolute storm on those brilliant, brilliant unpoliced roads of North Yorkshire.....
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 Mon 10 Oct 11 21:48 
 Harrogate - borasport
I live in Lancashire but spend one night a week over at our Yorkshire office (hence the free nights at the PI). When I was younger I did do a bit of road rallying, indeed, in the early 80's me and my driver accumulated more points that anybody else on the Beaver Rally by a factor of 2 or so, but that was bad, not good and just meant we were twice as carp as the next worst person, and a lot carper than everybody else.

There will be times, as the nights draw in, when in the right frame of mind, I'll pick a random selection of town/village names, plug the 'shortest' route into the satnav and go for a late night drive - driving for leisure is not yet illegal, and of the main roads is the best place to get a bit of enjoyment. I suspect my rate of progress is not what it was thirty years ago, but I enjoy myself

I understand it must be good country for bikers, but if I go out in the summer, flippin' eck, they don't half frighten/suprise me sometimes
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 Mon 10 Oct 11 21:58 
 Harrogate - R.P.
You've reminded me now - I was there in June - the weather was dead iffy (sorry iffy) although it was a Sunday when I did my Whitby dash it was quiet bikewise....the VFR's cam is exactly in the right place for those roads, I reckon there must be a replica of this road somewhere in Japan - absolutely perfect for that bike....few bikes about that day, on the way back to Arrowgate the heavens opened hail/rainstorm and floods ! Sainsbury in Harrogate had these daft metal humps - dead hazardous.... I'll never forget that storm, thunderbolts and lightening etc...
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 Mon 10 Oct 11 22:06 
 Harrogate - Runfer D'Hills
Very very frightening
Scaramouch , Scaramouch
Will you do the fandango?
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 Mon 10 Oct 11 22:17 
 Harrogate - R.P.
I did that night actually in a cheap pair of Amazon sourced shoes (99p) which subsequently went MIA on the M40 !
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