Low Harrogate: three apartments in the town’s historic cultural quarter

Noted visitors have included Tobias Smollett, Charles Dickens, Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, Sir Edward Elgar and, more recently, Bill Clinton.

The sulphur water’s popularity as a tonic or cure boosted the hamlet of Low Harrogate, which spawned hostelries we still know today. The White Hart dates from the mid-1700s and the Crown Hotel may trace its lineage further back still, to the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.

The well itself was covered in the first decade of the 19th century, then housed in its current Grade II* listed home in 1842 (the original building now covers Tewit Well on the Stray).

Around this conglomeration of guest housing were attracted ever more grand houses and businesses catering to the tourist trade.

For example, Farrah’s was established in 1840, and the company’s Original Harrogate Toffee was designed to clear the palate of the rotten-egg taste of the sulphur water.

Here too can be found Harrogate’s oldest pub, Hale’s Bar, under whose cellars the sulphur springs still flow. Its Georgian heritage and Victorian interior (complete with gas lighting) have seen it used as a film location, including for the Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire.

Since 1953, the extended Pump Room has housed the Royal Pump Room Museum, which is perhaps best known for its collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts.

Just around the corner is the Mercer Art Gallery, and over the road is the main entrance to the Valley Gardens, the district’s best-loved park.

All this means that property in Low Harrogate – nowadays joined to High Harrogate by the town centre – is still very much in demand. The following three flats are all currently for sale right in the heart of all this cultural wealth.

Apartment 2, The Toffee Works is just above Hales Bar and was officially launched on the market on Saturday (March 23). One of several flats occupying Farrah’s former toffee-making kitchens, the first-floor property has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and an open-plan dining kitchen and living space fronted by a large bay window.

At the other end of the picturesquely cobbled Crown Place, Apartment 1, Imperial Mansions is a luxurious first-floor property overlooking the Pump Room and the Valley Gardens. It has three en suite bedrooms, a large living/dining kitchen and a huge living room that opens out onto a large sun terrace. There’s also a games room which has a bar area with fitted fridges but which could also be used as a study or fourth bedroom.

The property also comes with two underground parking spaces and has CCTV throughout.

Finally, Apartment 14, Royal Baths II is a ground-floor flat in one of Low Harrogate’s more modern blocks. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a spacious sitting/dining room. This room and main bedroom have the advantage of patio doors leading to private balconies. The apartment has an allocated car parking space in a secure underground car park.