A Boxing Day Break in Harrogate

 

The cafe in Valley Gardens

At quite short notice (like the week before Christmas), the chap and I decided that, what we really needed was a couple of days away. Just a relaxed break to potter, eat nice food and relax in eachother’s company. With illness, and the usual pre-Christmas socialising and planning, it’s all felt a bit hectic. So, we booked a night away at the Harrogate Inn, right in the centre of Harrogate. Funnily enough, we didn’t realise at the time of booking that it was part of the same group as the Black Swan, where we’d enjoyed our lovely Christmas meal a couple of week’s back. 

I picked the chap up mid-morning, after battling my way through the thickest pea-soup fog that seemed to be enveloping most of the country. Thankfully, traffic wasn’t too bad in the direction we were heading in, and by lunchtime we were sitting in the car in Harrogate, eating the chicken, stuffing and cranberry batches that I’d made before leaving the house. While I was organising the snacks, the chap whipped out another gift for me (as if I hadn’t been spoiled enough), a gorgeous Pandora ring. I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to get exactly the right size, and it stacks perfectly with my other rings. 

I love Harrogate. When I first moved to Yorkshire, I lived in the Dales and Harrogate was a regular haunt for shopping trips. 

We enjoyed a relaxing peruse of the shops that were open, spotting the odd little sale buy. I noticed Lush, had their sale. I queued to get in. I never queue for shops (not since that time I queued for the Anya Hindmarch shopper all those years ago), but I decided that it would be rude not to. I was pretty restrained, and most of what I came away with was bath bombs for little miss. 

After a coffee and cake break, and picking up a few more bargains we wandered back to the car. A little photo stop by the obelisk, to show off the new coat and bag that the chap had bought me for Christmas (and the new hat off my Mum), and it was time to hop in the car and check into our hotel. 

My new River Island coat, Nightmare before Christmas bag, and French Connection Beanie

The hotel was beautiful inside. Welcoming, warm and beautifully decorated. The restaurant was bustling when we checked in. It was later when we came back down for dinner though that we realised that the hotel was a SERIOUSLY dog friendly place. We’d left Thelma with Mum, but there were dogs everywhere. Big dogs, small dogs, quiet dogs, loud dogs. As serious dog lovers, we struggled to keep in our seats all evening. 

The Harrogate Inn

We settled into a booth, and the chap set off to buy the drinks. Very naughty of him, buying me Prosecco when I’ve been alcohol free since I did Sober October. I drank it though, it was our Christmas celebration and it was rather lovely. 

We feasted on three courses, for me, Soup, Seafood Pasta and all finished off with a Sticky Toffee Sundae. My appetite still hasn’t fully returned, and I had to leave some of my main and my dessert, but I did enjoy it all. The chap thoroughly enjoyed his Venison burger, washed down with Guinness, too. Then, we spent the evening playing Viz Top Trumps, which was very funny. 

The chap diving straight in

Cheeky Bathroom Selfie - Shoes - Poetic License, Dress - City Chic, Kimono - One Hundred Stars, and the new bag again :)

It had been an altogether lovely way to spend the day and evening, and we were looking forward to what day 2 would bring. 

Friday morning, we were up bright and early and after a buffet breakfast and check out, we wandered up to the Valley Gardens for a morning stroll. 

The affluent Victorians used to visit the spa town of Harrogate to take the waters. The waters, filled with a multitude of minerals, but primarily sulphur come to the town by way of hundreds of springs and wells, which are dotted all around. Many of them on the Stray, but also a fair number of them in the valley gardens. 

The mixture of sulphur, magnesium and other minerals flowing from the springs is what gives the stream running through the gardens its unusual colour and murky appearance. After our wander it was back into town for more shopping. It was much busier than the previous day, and I was pleased to see many of the charity shops open.

We perused, although the charity shops were pretty fruitless, and stopped for a break at the Winter Gardens. A beautiful Weatherspoons, which was very festive. 

It was onwards to the vintage shop, space, before heading onto the high street. Most of the things I bought were for little miss, but I did manage to bag myself a nice pair of jeans in the Next sale. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t find any charity shop gems, but the lady working in the Cats Protection league shop was absolutely in awe of my new coat, so that was nice. 

Artwork at Space

The thick fog started drawing in, so after a coffee we decided to start home. The mixture of thick fog, nightfall and heavy traffic made it a long drive home. We’d had such a lovely break though, the perfect balance of shopping and pottering together.