We had a very, very quick overnight break in Harrogate on Sunday and Monday, and we were so pleasantly surprised that I had to share it with you!
I won't lie, my knowledge of English geography is pretty ropey to say the least, so when I saw the "Welcome to Yorkshire" sign on leaving Leeds Airport I did a double take.
Yorkshire you say... who knew!
The flight was an unbelievably quick 40 minutes with Ryanair and then we took a £30 taxi to Harrogate, which was about 20 minutes away. I'm sure it would be really easy (and much cheaper) to get a bus but we were in a hurry to get to a Bridal Fair fr work.
Along the way, the scenery was gorgeous, green and lush and the houses, full of old world charm.
After an exhausting day of sourcing a plethora of gorgeous bridal goodies we strolled up to
The Fat Badger for some tasty pub grub and a glass of vino. While we were there the locals were having a pub quiz and the ever competitive Caroline signed us up. Hmmm...
Would you believe we didn't do to hectically in a quiz based on English history, politics and current affairs... It was fun though and a nice way to end the day!
Even though Sunday was taken up fully with work, we managed a few hours sight seeing on Monday before our flight home.
The Montpellier Quarter in Harrogate is a quaint little area packed with cafes and boutiques. It's pretty adorable! The whole town is really easy to navigate and see on foot. We saw quite a bit in a short space of time and what we took in made us want to come back for another visit!
Apparently, Harrogate came first as the happiest place to live in England, I think that says something about this lovely little town!
Betty's Tea Room's seems to be a bit of an institution. We passed it several times on our walk around and each time the queues where out the door. It's a big place so I don't think you had to wait long but it really speaks of it's popularity!
We didn't have time to visit the
Turkish Baths and Spa so it's on out must see list for next time!
About twenty minutes before our bus departed we stumbled across
Space. A wonderland of vintage and retro accessories, clothing and furnishings. We were gutted that we didn't have more time to have a real rummage through everything here because it was awesome! Right up our street. It was crammed full of vintage treasures for the house. I wanted everything, particularly a vintage chandelier I had spotted but I was pretty sure I wouldn't be allowed to take it home in my hand luggage!
Above Space was Major Tom's Social, cafe and bar. It looked really quirky and funky and somewhere that we'd love to while away a few hours of an evening. We had missed the geek quiz on Sunday night which I think sounded hilarious. I'm sure we would have done a little better in this than the one we took part in.
While we were there we came across the Harrogate
Vintage Trail map. Can't you just see our sad faces when we found this as we were running for the bus!!!
All in all we had a lovely, if brief trip to Harrogate. It's a beautiful Victorian spa town and I think it would be prefect for a break away. There was loads to do for families with oodles of parks, playgrounds and attractions. It's oozes charm and would make quite the romantic getaway as there are lots of fab eateries, walks and hotels.
One of the things that struck me was what a marvelous place Harrogate would be for a glamourous hen party. Don't get me wrong, if willy straws and drinking games are your thing then this is NOT the place for you. It is a sleepy little town but with the Turkish Baths, Yorkshire tea rooms, lovely boutiques and abundance of culture If you were hoping for a more ladylike hen party then you couldn't ask for much more!
Anyway to find out anymore have a look at the
tourist site. We'll definitelty be visiting again for a holiday.
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