Today the children and I picniced with a friend and her boys on the Stray. The Stray is an area of grass measuring 200acres square running through Harrogate. It belongs to the local residents and as such cannot be built on or used for anything not community based. The Stray always must measure 200 acres so if one section of grass is taken up with a pavement renovation then another patch of grass must be made available to become part of the Stray. This area is one of the reasons Harrogate is such a wonderful place to live. In spring the perimeters are covered in a fabulous carpet of crocuses, and in April a corridor of blossoming cherry trees marks the path from the Stray to Leeds road. Through out the year residents use the Stray for keeping fit, walking their dogs,  entertaining their children, flying kites, and partaking in peaceful jaunts across. We Harrogatarians are very lucky to have such a lush green resource surrounding us.