While the city of Harrogate’s most treasured features, its two springs, remain popular among locals and visitors, the Stray that connects them and circles the city center has also become a popular destination in its own right. The park’s green-belt design makes it accessible from all parts of the urban core, and the large open grasses are frequently used for picnics, kite-flying, and all kinds of outdoor sports and recreation. Although the original Stray Act included a ban on cycling through the park’s many trails, after year of lobbying by Harrogate’s community and environmental organizations, an amendment to the Act lifted the ban in 2011 and the trails were opened to the cyclists for the first time. Since then, the city has undergone an effort to widen and re-route trails to better serve the needs of cyclists and continue to accommodate the thousands of pedestrians that visit the park every year. As the largest public space in the city of Harrogate, the Stray is also venue for a variety of public programming. The Stray’s programming varies from year to year, as one of its governing bylaws dictates that a number of open events be held in the park space to benefit local charities and public services. Popular programs include sporting events, fairs, circuses and an annual bonfire.

Located in Harrogate’s urban center (also referred to as the “Old Town of Harrogate”), The Stray is a greenbelt park that was created as a result of a bill in the 1700s, which consolidated Low Harrogate and High Harrogate--including their two mineral springs--into a single township. The town’s greatest assets, these mineral springs were believed to possess the cure to a number of ailments and they were frequented by locals and visitors looking to be “healed.” The bill declared The Stray and the two mineral springs as public land. Local bylaws have maintained this space as public and stipulated its preservation. As governance in Harrogate changed, the Stray and the two mineral springs were, again, deemed public land by an act of Parliament, The Stray Act of 1985. Though most have lost the belief in the medicinal uses of the two springs, they remain Harrogate’s most popular tourist attractions and entirely public.

Image credits, from left: Tom Blackwell via Flickr, lutmans via Flickr, YorkshirePhotoWalks via Flickr