Harrogate, a historical spa town in North Yorkshire, is less well known than York or Leeds, but very beautiful and well worth a visit. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was the Northern rival to Bath (and is mentioned in Georgette Heyer’s Venetia and probably other Heyer novels as well), in contemporary times it’s also known for its convention centre and flower show.
If you’re German, you may remember Harrogate as the site of the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest, which was won by the German contestant Nicole with her song Ein bißchen Frieden (A little bit of peace). The 1982 Eurovision Song Contest was also remarkable for featuring a song so stunningly awful that it would be remembered for a long time, the Finnish entry Nuku Pommiin by Kojo, which placed last. To my own surprise, my adult self actually prefers Kojo to Nicole. Coincidentally, both the Finnish and the German songs were about the fear of nuclear war, which tells you a lot about the early 1980s. The presenter in the clips is not a Peter Davison era Doctor Who extra pressed into service, by the way, but BBC newsreader Jan Leeming.
And now for some photos:

Betty's Tea Room, opened in 1919. I had a most delicious pastry called a Yorkshire Fat Rascal in there.

The Royal Pump Room, where the famous sulphurous spring water could once be drunken. Nowadays it's a museum.

The Royal Hall, an Art Noveau ballroom and theatre. Interestingly enough, the inscription on the gable uses the German word "Kursaal" (spa hall).

Close up, the statues on the roof of the Victoria Shopping Centre turn out to be depictions of modern shoppers

Part of the Harrogate Exhibition Centre. This part is fairly new. The building where the Eurovision Song Contest was held in 1982 is behind this one and not visible (and not interesting enough to make the treck there and take a photo)

Bog Field at Valley Gardens, where more than thirty springs provide sulphurous water to the spa visitors

A closer look at the acquatic plants at Valley Gardens. I have no idea what these plants are called.
ETA: I just posted these links in the comments to Estara, but I think everybody should have a chance to look at them. Anyway, I came across this collection of vintage postcards of Harrogate, showing many of the same buildings you can see in my photos. Meanwhile, the Royal Hall/Kursaal seen in one of the photos above has its own website with several photos of the interior and more information.
*envious sigh* spring green in the UK…. awww.
Lovely to get more of an impression of Harrogate (I do wonder why they have that Kursaal bit up there – did you find out about that?), which I have also come across only in Georgette Heyer.
I hope you had a fairly relaxed Easter weekend, too.
According to the official website of the Royal Hall, the hall was modeled on the Kursäle found in many German spa towns, hence the German term. They changed the name during WWI. The site also has some pictures of the interior of the theatre, which I didn’t get to see, cause it was closed.
Besides, it seems that “Kursaal” was the generally accepted term for combined theatres/ballrooms/assembly halls in 19th century spa towns. The Royal Hall website has a page with vintage postcards of other “Kursäle” in France, Belgium, the UK and Egypt, amazingly.
I also came across this collection of vintage postcards of Harrogate, showing many of the same buildings I photographed more than a hundred years later.
Happy belated birthday, by the way. I hope you had a great birthday and Easter weekend.
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