Developments of Harrogate’s wells and baths were matched by the development in the town’s parks and gardens. Until the 1850’s the famous Valley Gardens was no more than a footpath across a field held by the Vicar of Pannal, linking the Old Sulphur Well with the Bogs Field. In 1852 the Improvement Commissioners improved the route and in 1855 built the Magnesia Well Pump Room. Gradually, the land fringing the path was planted and by 1886 the area was known as the “Valley Pleasure Grounds”.
In 1895, the council built the new Magnesia Well Pump Room in the gardens as a glazed shelter for water drinkers and in 1887, Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, the council launched a competition to landscape the area and purchased a parcel of land between the stream and Cornwall Road. Further land (known as Collins’ Field) between Bogs Field and the Royal Bath Hospital was acquired in 1902 and the Valley Gardens became an essential feature of spa life, being favoured for exercise and ‘promenading’.
The gardens were well placed for further extension, and in 1898 the council purchased Harlow Moor as far as the newly built Harlow Moor Road.
The Corporation’s purchase of the Harlow Carr estate in February 1914 was further evidence of their determination to place all of the town’s spa facilities in public ownership. The estate possessed an important series of mineral wells, a suite of spa baths, and a medium-sized hotel, built in 1844. The Harlow Wells are principally of the mild saline-sulphur group and appear to have been known since at least the early eighteenth century, when they were recorded by Dr Short.
Finally, the area of Harlow Moor between Harlow Moor Road and Harlow Carr was purchased from the Earl of Harewood in 1925 and planted with species of pine in line with German spa practice regarding the promotion of pure and pine scented air.