Harlow Carr in Yorkshire among dogwoods, viburnums and willows

Feathery conifers, leafy evergreen trees and winter blooms perfume the air at Harlow Carr, the most exciting English garden to visit in January. It is located in North Yorkshire, near the town of Harrogate. Its Winter Walk features dogwoods and willows that love clay soils and are adept at conserving moisture. The red-coloured Cornus alba Sibirica challenges the ghostly white trunks of the birch and the golden yellow leaves of the Choisya ternata Sundance. The scent of the flowers of the mahonia and viburnums is inebriating: the latter, in particular Viburnum bodnantense Charles Lamont, have bare stems but are covered with delicate pale pink flowers. If the Sandstone Rock Garden flaunts rocks that shimmer under the winter sun or glisten from the frost, while the conifers Chamaecyparis pisifera Baby Blue and Juniperus squamata Blue Carpet are reflected in the pools of water next to the bluish-hued Abies procera, at the first blast of cold you can take refuge in the Alpine House: here, the saxifrages, Cape primroses with their delicate tube-shaped flowers, Gypsophila aretioides and Androsace vandellii do not skimp on their splendour. This park is also famous for its main winter borders, which range from straw yellow to dark bronze, with all shades of brown in between. The Edwardian Garden is also richly evocative by virtue of its yew hedges fashioned in two curving layers that cast intriguing shadows as the sun passes against the backdrop of the lily pond: some are shaped like spheres, and are close to the Viburnum x burkwoodii and Cyperus longus of the pond. In Harrogate's old town you can stay at the White Hart Hotel & Apartments located in that Montpellier Quarter teeming with cafes, fashion ateliers, and especially galleries and antique shops as well as the gourmet emporium Farrah's also known for its candy tradition.