Heritage Open Days (HODS) 2023

Kevin Hales, a member of our Events Group responsible for organising Harrogate’s Heritage Open Days events, writes:
Harrogate will once again be playing a prominent role in the national Heritage Open Days (HODs) festival, which runs this year from Friday 8 to Sunday 17 September. Preparations are in full swing, and the Harrogate Civic Society has been working with many different heritage sites, organisations and religious establishments in the town, along with local heritage enthusiasts, to build a varied and interesting series of events. Twenty are already registered. Highlights to date include: Ogden of Harrogate, welcoming visitors to an exhibition and talk at its James Street premises, and new heritage walks led by local experts in each of Pannal, Ripley Village, and Valley Gardens. We are proud to include in our HODs programme, for local residents and visitors from far and wide to attend, two important talks that form part of the town’s extensive War Memorial Centenary commemorations programme. There will once again be events at the Harrogate Club and at the Library, also in Bilton and New Park and at several of Harrogate’s most impressive churches along with guided walks around the Heritage Plaques harrogateplaques.org and through the Duchy estate. For those who wish to explore a cemetery, or admire local art, there will be something for them and anyone who’s keen on climbing towers will have two (so far) to choose from. Other events are in the pipeline and key details will be in a timetable guide on the Civic Society website. The fullest and most up-to-date details of all HODs events across England will, as usual, be on the national website heritageopendays.org.uk/.