Tuesday wasn't too bad a day apart from a rather strong breeze and some heavy showers. In between the showers we had some sunny spells and the mild start to the year continued.
I’d spent a couple of days trying to decide where to go for my birthday treat. On Monday evening, the forecast for Tuesday was for a good sunny day and so I decided on a visit to The Royal Horticultural Societies gardens at Harlow Carr about a 45 minute drive away. Tuesday morning started dull and at one point it began to rain putting in doubt the visit to Harlow Carr but by mid morning the clouds had disappeared, the sun was shining so around lunchtime we set off.
We had some lunch at Bettys a well known restaurant in Harrogate who also have a cafe and restaurant at Harlow Carr. The plan was to have a walk around the gardens once we’d had a leisurely lunch. In the gardens we decided to visit the alpine house first before moving on to the kitchen garden.
The kitchen garden was a little bare of produce as you’d expect in January but they had a really good collection of very healthy looking brassicas which obviously didn't suffer from pigeon damage as they were net free.
Their early crop of broad beans looked good too. It’s an early crop I've yet to master. Then the weather took a turn for the worse and it started to rain quite heavily. We headed for the alpine house for some shelter but not before we spotted the ultimate in pigeon protection.
A red kite circling high above the gardens keeping watch for a spot of late lunch. Unfortunately for us the rain didn't stop and we decided to return another day for a better look around the gardens.
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Wishing you a belated happy birthday. Harlow Carr looks wonderful, and how fantastic to see a red kite. My eldest would go for that alone! The kitchen garden is lovely, I'm wishing I had some broad beans that look like that. I imagine it's amazing there in the summer and probably very inspirational.
ReplyDeleteIt was a pity about the weather. We saw some more red kites near the Harewood Estate on our way home.
DeleteMy broad beans still have every chance of a good crop as they're still in the seed packet. I'm wondering what will happen to those Harlow Carr beans when we get some cold and frosty weather. Will have to return to check them out and see how the kitchen garden develops.
An interesting garden! I love the kitchen garden. All plants look so stunning, especially the broad beans.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing the Kitchen Garden at its best in summer.
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