
Guide
Things to Do With Kids in Harrogate
From adventure parks and farm days to playgrounds, rowing boats, reservoirs and brilliant outdoor spaces, discover the best things to do with kids in and around Harrogate.
Gardens & Parks
Seventeen acres of public gardens minutes from the town centre, running up to Pinewoods.

Valley Gardens is Harrogate's everyday green space and the clearest surviving evidence of its spa years — the gardens sit over a remarkable concentration of mineral springs.
There are formal beds and a bandstand near the Valley Road entrance, then paths that climb gradually into more open ground, a boating pond, tennis courts and a café. Keep going and you reach Pinewoods, the woodland that links the gardens to RHS Harlow Carr.
That walk — town centre, gardens, Pinewoods, Harlow Carr — is one of the best free things to do in Harrogate, and it takes roughly half an hour each way at a gentle pace.
Free·Walking·Families·Picnics·Gardens
Last verified 11/09/2026. Something changed? Let us know
Read next

Guide
From adventure parks and farm days to playgrounds, rowing boats, reservoirs and brilliant outdoor spaces, discover the best things to do with kids in and around Harrogate.

Guide
Harrogate wasn't planned around a castle, cathedral or port. It grew around its mineral springs. Here's how water, wealthy visitors and more than four centuries of change shaped the town.
Nearby
Restaurants
Below-street-level bistro on Cold Bath Road, quietly running for years on classic cooking and a serious wine list.
Restaurants
Neighbourhood restaurant and bar with a menu built around sharing and a loyal local following.

Spa Hotels
Country house hotel, spa and golf in 300 acres of parkland on the southern edge of Harrogate.