Start your day with a wander around the ruins of the magnificent Cistercian Abbey and enjoy a riverside walk to the World Heritage Site of the eighteenth-century Georgian water garden of Studley Royal featuring a stunning Surprise View lookout over the abbey and river and an exciting dark Serpentine Tunnel. There is plenty to keep you busy before you enjoy a treat from the café and take a walk around the lake or among the wild deer and ancient trees.

Pick up some delicious treats from Ripon's Market Square, and make your way to the Ripon Spa Gardens. This beautiful park features colourful flowerbeds, a Victorian bandstand and wooden sculptures depicting characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (L. Carroll was a choirboy at Ripon Cathedral and is thought to have been inspired by the carvings there).

A historic kitchen garden that was once part of the Bishop’s Palace is now a wonderful place to relax and explore. There is a small shop selling the produce grown on site including jams, chutneys, apple juice locally pressed from their own crops and honey produced in their resident hives.

Another beautiful deer park awaits you on the Swinton Estate whilst the working kitchen garden located in the walled gardens will tantalise your taste buds with over 60 varieties of fruit, herbs and vegetables that you can sample in the Terrace restaurant. Flowers are also on sale so why not take a bunch home with you?

This 45 acre botanical masterpiece is set in a unique valley with stunning woodland and lakes boasting.

85 contemporary sculptures. Home to an incredible 1,400 rhododendron varieties, 250 azalea varieties and 150 different magnolias and seasonal plants ranging from the meconopsis poppy to the primula - this is an award winning garden not to be missed.

With an extensive array of plant varieties from the 172 metre long herbaceous borders to the National Collection of Cornus (Dogwoods) - Newby Hall is a must visit destination for garden lovers. With many different gardens and planting schemes the gardens at Newby reward exploration. In addition to the expansive planting Newby also offers a beautiful house, and remarkable children's play area, a railway and collections of teddy bears and dollhouses, all connected by the stunning gardens.