Harewood Arms review: I discovered this hidden gem pub near Leeds where red kites soar overhead
In a picture-postcard village near Leeds, this charming pub offered more than a well-earned drink - it delivered an unexpected aerial show.
Standing proudly just minutes from its namesake country house, The Harewood Arms is a handsome former coaching inn that has been welcoming guests for the best part of 200 years.
We had only just arrived in the beer garden moments earlier when a vast wake of red kites suddenly appeared overhead and began a dramatic swooping dance above.
Their forked tails flicked against the evening sky, looping and chasing in sudden dives so low we could make out the fiery colours of their feathers.
An impromptu airshow is, of course, not the usual pub fare - but the drinkers here seemed to look on with the casual indifference of those who’ve seen it all before.
Run by the famously idiosyncratic Samuel Smith’s brewery, the Harewood Arms is nothing if not hospitable. There’s a solid selection of ales and lagers served at near-astonishing value, age-old wooden interiors, and a lovely stillness about the place.
Outside, the stone facade is practically begging to be filmed. It would fit right into a Midsomer Murders episode, with its golden stone glowing in the early summer’s evening.
We enjoyed a couple of perfectly chilled, crisp lagers alongside a rich, velvety stout on a bench outside as the extraordinary spectacle unfolded.
The birds had turned our pitstop into something magical: dozens of them circling in wide arcs above the trees, dipping and diving as though choreographed. Their silhouettes cut dramatically across the sky, engaging in what appeared to be mid-air playfights. It was beautiful, surreal, and even a touch unnerving.
The spectacle has its roots in a reintroduction programme that saw the prey animals released on the Harewood Estate in the late 1990s. Initially experimental, it has since been deemed a rare conservation triumph.
The birds not only survived but flourished, and have since spread across Yorkshire. Today, their presence is taken for granted by locals, but for visitors, it’s a rare show.
Inside, there is a timeless quality to the Harewood Arms, a sense that it belongs to a slower, simpler era. And in an age of endless chain pubs, that combination of historical charm and quiet natural wonder feels like something worth holding on to.
But, for us, outside is where the real magic unfolded - red kites dancing above like something from a half-remembered dream.
Factfile
- Address: Harrogate Road, Harewood, Leeds, LS17 9LH
- Phone: 0113 288 6566
- Opening hours: Tue-Sat, 11am-11pm; Sun, 12pm-10.30pm
- Website: samuelsmithshotels.co.uk/hotel/harewood-arms
Scores
- Drinks: 7/10
- Value: 10/10
- Atmosphere: 10/10
- Service: 10/10