Heritage, spas and the dales

While enjoying the wholesome country air and spectacular scenery one day, William Slingsby took a cool slug from a bubbling spring… and inadvertently founded one of the country’s most genteel and picturesque towns.

It tasted like the water he had sampled from spas in Belgium and local physician Timothy Bright soon afterwards proclaimed the said spring – rich in sulphur and iron – to possess life-enhancing qualities.

Just about anything from gout to skin disorders and nervous tension could be cured – or so it was pronounced – with regular dips into, and daily draughts from, the healing wells of Harrogate that arose in the wake of Slingsby’s fortuitous discovery more than 400 years ago.

The best known well – bluffly dubbed The Stinking Spaw by locals – is housed in the celebrated Royal Pump Room, one of many grand spa related structures that populate this charming North Yorkshire town.

At its height, more than 1,000 glasses of sulphur water were quaffed during a single morning in Harrogate. Such was its reputation that in 1911 no less than three queens (Alexandra, Amelia of Portugal and the Empress of Russia) resided there.

Modern medicine has since found other ways to treat lumbago, digestive disorders and rheumatism, but folk still take to the waters in Harrogate – though most visitors, like us, just get a kick out of wandering around its elegant town centre.

And instead of a mug of salty sulphurous liquid, a nice cuppa normally suffices these days while visiting the town that has become the “tea shop capital of Yorkshire.”

Around a three-and-a-half hour drive from Swindon, Harrogate, with its historic Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian buildings, smart shops and quaint streets, is an attraction in itself.

It is also a convenient base to explore the enchanting Yorkshire Dales, nearby Ripley – bizarrely remodelled during the 19th century into the style of a village from the Alsace Lorraine area of France – and Knaresborough, home to England’s oldest chemist’s shop (1720).

We stayed at Harrogate’s chic Hotel du Vin, located between the Cleopatra’s Needle-like war memorial and the eye-catching tower of West Park Church.

Occupying eight Georgian-styled houses a few minutes’ walk from the town centre, the spacious 48-room hotel oozes elegance and comfort.

The main reception area is dominated by a sweeping curved steel and wood staircase while the establishment boasts a delightful courtyard – which is good news for smokers – complete with ornate fountain.

The bay window of our first floor room commands an impressive view of The Stray, 200 acres of fiercely protected parklands which feature among other things, the dome-topped home of the town’s original Tewit Well.

The restaurant may have a French feel but true to the hotel chain’s ethos, its fare is locally sourced from a host of Yorkshire producers.

And naturally, being in Harrogate, the Hotel du Vin has its own spa, complete with assorted holistic and therapeutic treatments.

Slingsby, no doubt, would have approved!

• Hotel du Vin Harrogate, Prospect Place, Harrogate, Yorkshire, HG1 1LB. Tel: 01423 856 800.

Email: reception.harrogate@hotelduvin.com Website: www.hotelduvin.com/harrogate

Look back at forgotten time

Strolling through the streets of Saltaire, with its neatly appointed rows of terraced homes, former almshouses and semi-detached residences, it is easy to feel that you have been thrust back in time.

Only the parked cars, a distant drone of passing traffic and wheelie bins lined-up like sentinels behind columns of tiny, tidily kept gardens, remind us that we are in the 21st century.

This is the industrial village that mill owner and philanthropist Sir Titus Salt built in a grassy Yorkshire valley 150 years ago, away from the squalor, pollution and over-crowding of Bradford. Today it is one of the UK’s 28 World Heritage Sites and high on any agenda during a trip to West Yorkshire.

There are obvious similarities with Swindon’s Railway Village, erected a few years before Salt created his model community.

Saltaire, however, was built entirely in a classical style. As well as a featuring a host of grand Italian Renaissance-inspired structures, it boasts a Grade I listed church, today recognised as one of Britain’s most precious Victorian architectural treasures.

Sir Titus named many of the streets after his own children; Herbert Street, Mary Street, William Street, Helen Street, Ada Street, Fanny Street, Jane Street, Shirley Street, Amelia Street, Edward Street, Albert Terrace. Obviously a busy man!

Leeds, seven miles away, is the ideal spot to encamp for a West Yorkshire weekend, a short drive from the bleakly beautiful, heather-clad Bronte Country.

The UK’s fifth largest city, my trips to the country’s textile capital have been football-related, Swindon having played there on numerous occasions in recent years, winning 3-0 on the last visit, I recall.

Charles Dickens wasn’t the city’s greatest fan. Writing in 1847, he described it as “the beastliest place, one of the nastiest I know.”

Crammed with belching chimneys and back-to-back slums, he probably had a point.

Had the eminent scribe been alive today he would no doubt be in shock after a regeneration scheme has seen Leeds emerge like a snowy white swan from an ugly duckling.

It is home to some outstanding 19th century architecture, along with gleaming, modern shopping malls and ornate Victorian arcades with their columns, arches, and cathedral-like windows.

Trendy bars catering for one of the country’s largest student populations are matched by fine traditional pubs – many cunningly concealed in alleys and yards.

We stayed at the city centre’s Roomzzz (that’s three zeds) Aparthotel. Easy on the wallet, it proved a cosy, comfortable and frankly eye-opening alternative to better known affordable accommodation.

Our stylish apartment – one of 36 at this location – was an absolute model of compact design, squeezing in just about everything you could need, for either a brief or a much longer stay, while somehow remaining spacious.

No surprise, then, that it was recently shortlisted for a prestigious European hotels design award.

If you fancy dishing up your own dinner or breakfast, then the well-equipped kitchen is a few feet from the bed.

We decided, however, to take advantage of the complimentary “grab and go” breakfast – a selection of teas and coffee, fruits, fruit juice and pastries – before hitting the streets of Leeds.

There are three Roomzzz establishments in Leeds, as well as one in Manchester and another opening in Newcastle in September, which can be booked online from July.

Roomzzz also runs a number of loyalty offers as part of its Loyalty Club scheme. Benefits include: Silver membership card – basic level, available to all, 10 per cent discount and free to join; Gold membership card – issued on achieving 25 room nights per year, 15 per cent discount and Platinum membership card – issued on achieving 75 room nights per year, which offers a 20 per cent discount, complimentary upgrade and late check-out

• For more information go to: www.roomzzz.co.uk. Tel: 0844 499 4888