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
Valley Gardens
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.
Good for
Free·Walking·Families·Picnics·Gardens
Last verified 11/09/2026. Something changed? Let us know
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