Fun Facts About Harrogate

We love our spa town home for so many reasons, and here are just a few more…

1. Harrogate was once two small villages, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate.

2. Harrogate hosted the Eurovision song contest in 1982.

3. Charles Dickens visited Harrogate in 1858 and described it as “the queerest place with the strangest people in it leading the oddest lives…” (!)

4. Harrogate has been voted the happiest place to live in Britain for the third year in a row by a Rightmove survey.

5. The country’s last, fully working Turkish Bath remains in Harrogate, dating back to the 19th Century.

6. Harrogate spa water contains iron, sulphur and common salt. The town became known as ‘The English Spa’ in the Georgian era after its waters were discovered in the 16th century.

7. Jim Carter, the actor who is best known for playing the role of Mr Carson in Downton Abbey, hails from Harrogate.

8. In 2013, Harrogate beat the likes of Paris, Rome and Vienna to be named one of the World’s most romantic destinations by secretescapes.co.uk.

9. Harrogate served as the finish line of the first stage of the Tour de France in July 2014 which attracted record crowds to the town centre.

10. Betty’s Café Tearoom began it’s story in Harrogate in 1919, selling Yorkshire’s famous ‘Fat Rascal’ scones, decorated with a cherry and almond face! A great place to visit after the Great Yorkshire Run for a tasty post-run refuel.

Content from: https://www.greatrun.org/news-and-media/blog/facts-harrogate-yorkshire-run