As Harewood House and gardens close for the winter months, we wanted to thank you for playing your part in what has been an extraordinary year. We have produced five art exhibitions, hosted three car shows, a food festival, an antiques fair, a dog show, a music festival, an outdoor theatre performance, seventeen talks, tour and workshops and three sporting events. Le Grand Depart was naturally a huge highlight along with the historic visit from their Royal Highnesses William, Kate and Harry. We would like to thank you for being part of our 2014 year.

Harewood Prepares for 2015

During closed season, we will be undertaking some significant capital projects. One such project will see the historic House connected to a new state-of-the-art biomass heating system located within the Estate. The Georgian building will be taken firmly into 2015 with a fully sustainable heating system which will reduce energy consumption, fire risk and save vital funds which can go back into preserving the building and art works.

Inside the House, the collections will undergo a deep clean. Scaffolding will be erected in the State Rooms allowing our expert team to clean chandeliers and paintings as well as make repairs where necessary. Harewood House Trust was set up to maintain and develop the collections for the public benefit and your membership or ticket goes towards this essential goal. It really does make a difference.

In the gardens, the grounds team will prune the trees, enrich planting on the Terrace and they plan to introduce a range of hardy-herbaceous perennials. 2015 will also see HRH Princess Mary’s rock garden revamped by replanting alpine plants including lilies, blue poppies and fox tail lilies.

Thank you once again for being part of a historic year at Harewood and we look forward to welcoming you back in April 2015 with more exciting things to come.

With hundreds of acres of rolling landscape adorned with stately trees and framed by mixed woodlands, the grounds at Harewood are well-known for their spectacular autumn colour. But look a little closer, beyond its misty valleys and sylvan slopes – into the gardens – and you’ll be rewarded with an array of hidden gems to discover at Harewood this autumn.

Bejewelled with exotic plants, the Terrace flower borders are a sight to behold as they drip with colour during late summer and autumn. Just when some of the more traditional summer flowers begin to fade, the rich hues of more tender subjects, such as dahlias and salvias, burst onto the scene, adding drama and verve to complement the more muted, velvety tones of such autumn stalwarts as asters and sedums.

A walk along the Archery Border reveals a whole host of trees and shrubs from all over the world. These provide a framework of ornate leaves and stems, through which, is woven a tapestry of hot colours as displayed by such plants as stately red hot pokers, ornamental gingers and devil’s tobacco.
Notes from Trevor Nicholson, Head Gardener

The world’s greatest bike race got off to a flying start at Harewood this weekend. It was a truly historic occasion made even more special by Royal visitors, the Red Arrows, perfect weather and a wonderful crowd.

The Official Ceremonial Start began with the Tour de France caravan containing upwards of 140 cars which set off from Leeds at 11am. The excitement began to build as everything from tea bags to t-shirts were thrown out to the crowds.

After the caravan, came the arrival of the Royal party. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry were greeted by Lord and Lady Harewood who introduced them to Patricia, Countess of Harewood, Deputy Prime Minster, the French Ambassador, Lord Lieutenant, Vice Lord Lieutenant and the High Sheriff.

Overhead the sound of helicopters got the crowd’s attention as the peloton grew nearer. There were thousands of people lining the Drive and the atmosphere was truly electric. As the riders reached the official start line, they were called to a halt. Our top British cyclists were at the front of the pack. Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates were introduced to the Royal party who wished them well for the race.

The icing on the cake came with the arrival of the Red Arrows who made two passes of the House and crowds. After the fly past, the bikes set off on their 2,277 mile journey.

Lord Harewood, said: “But, much more important, a huge thank you to you and everyone else at Harewood for their fantastic energy, commitment, good humor and hard work. Without all of you, and a little bit of help from the weather, Saturday wouldn’t have been the huge success that it was.”

Alongside Le Grand Depart was the Dare 2b Festival of Cycling keeping the crowds entertained. The Festival attracted 10,000 campers and glampers as well as local visitors here for the day. They enjoyed the Tour de France on huge screens as they sat in the sun and soaked up the atmosphere.

It was an incredible weekend which has been made possible by thousands of hours of hard work. The organisers, staff, police, local councils, volunteers and local residents have made this a real moment in history.

With so much activity happening at Harewood during the Tour de France there are some changes to our normal opening hours for the big weekend.

On 4th, 5th and 6th July, the House will be closed to the public and members. This is to allow Harewood to prepare for Royal visitors and functions during Le Grand Depart weekend. Do not despair! The grounds and gardens will be open on the 4th and 6th July to members and day visitors.

If you want to come down and see all the activity ahead of the big race you can. On July 4th visitors will be able to enjoy the Festival of Cycling free of charge.

Below is a summary of the opening times during this historic weekend.

	4th July	5th July	6th July
House	Closed	Closed	Closed
Grounds and Gardens	Open as usual	Closed	Open, free entry with Festival passes and/or parking.
Parking	Harewood standard car park included in ticket price.	Festival of Cycling Parking only (£10). Also applies to members.	Festival of Cycling Parking only (£10). Also applies to members.
Festival of Cycling	Free with standard Harewood entry.	Tickets apply. Also applies to members.	Tickets apply. Also applies to members.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact the team on 0113 218 1000.

We’re currently experiencing technical difficulties with our telephone lines and emails at present. Our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause whilst we work to resolve the issue. For visitors calling Harewood you will find that the connection appears to be working however we are not receiving the calls on site. For urgent queries please contact our Duty Manager on 07801 340 712. Please note this number will be in service until 6pm.

Follow us on Twitter @harewoodhouse to keep updated about the status of this issue.

Once again, apologies for the inconvenience this may cause you.

Kind regards,

The Harewood Team