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 The enchanting walk around the lake through woodlands dappled with shade and covered in spring bulbs, rhododendrons and unusual shrubs also affords many opportunities to observe the multitude of wild birds who frequent the lake. A jetty about halfway around also allows you to embark or disembark the Harewood boat 'Capability', when it is sailing. (For information on the boat contact the Harewood information centre.)
John Sparrow was the Head Gardener who was charged with damming the natural stream to make a lake, some years before Lancelot 'Capability' Brown pronounced on the 'capabilities' of the landscape, and the dam is a feature of the walk around the lake to the kitchen gardens.
The Cascade which joins lake to outgoing stream dominates the rocky garden below the dam, which spectacularly celebrates spring each year, with a profusion of primulas, astilbes, hosta, and the water-loving gunnera, a giant member of the rhubarb family which grows to eight or nine feet each summer.
 A precious new addition to the Harewood landscape is the Stupa, adjacent to the Cascade in the Himalayan Garden. A common sight in the Himalayas, Stupas are Buddhist monumnets and focal points for the community.
The Harewood Stupa was built by Yorkshire craftsmen under the supervision of Lama Sonam Chophel, master builder of Stupas, and a small team of assistants from his native Bhutan. They oversaw the making of the sealed chambers within it, filled with a range of objects including clothes, tools, musical instruments and religious symbols.
Throughout, the Lakeside walk suggests a passion on the part of Harewood's owners for the rhododendron, a phenomenon new to English gardens in the nineteenth century.
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