Harrogate Water 

Think of Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema's romantic paintings of exotically beautiful women, adorned in Grecian robes, dreamily lounging around Turkish baths and you come to Britain's very own Harrogate.

This north Yorkshire town pays its greatest claim to fame to the highly sort after mineral rich springs that once produced the country's greatest spa resorts.

Harrogate was the playground for the prim and proper, chi-chi sirs and madams back in the Victorian day. From the famous (Agatha Christie after her marriage split in 1926) to the fashionable, people flocked here in a frenzy to seek the curative powers of the local water.

• To tickle the senses a little more, the sweet scent of flowers in the many parklands and gardens in Harrogate is the other main visitor attraction. The floral passion has spread from the botanic gardens to residential front yards.

Harrogate & Knaresborough Travel Guide