A large town in North Yorkshire, Harrogate found fame as a spa town in 1571 after a mineral spring was discovered by William Slingsby. During the late 19th and 20th centuries the fashionably elite jaunted to the town, the regal reminders of which are the 19th century Royal Pump Room Museum housing the original sulphur well and the Royal Baths Assembly Rooms, built in 1897, and where Turkish Baths are still in daily use.
Harrogate boasts magnificent Victorian buildings, colourful banks of blooms and gardens that have won the town recent awards, plus broad, tree-lined boulevards and wide open spaces. One mile away is the 68 acres of Harlow Carr Botanical Gardens with the Yorkshire Dales just on the doorstep, Harrogate is an amiable springboard for discovering Yorkshire on a coach tour. Add this to more restaurants per capita than all other British towns as well as the infamous Betty's Tearooms, first opened in 1919 and serving up the finest, nationally known Yorkshire Tea, making Harrogate a must to visit by coach.
- Pay a trip to Valley Gardens, known world wide for their incredible flower displays.