Wyming Brook

In our quest to find new places on our doorstep, hubby and I found this delightful woodland walk in Sheffield. Wyming Brook is somewhere that I had never even heard of until I happened upon the Sheffield Wildlife Trust website. Its a real gem of a place.

There is a good car park, and lots of grassy area's not far from the car park, by the side of the babbling brook that will make great picnic and paddling spots in summer.

The walk has some fab rocky formations along the way.

On the way down, we walked on the wide track.

As you get towards the bottom of the trail, under the canopy of tree's, everything sports a woolly jumper effect coat of moss.

The combination of a golden tree, lit by sunlight against a brilliant blue sky backdrop is a winning one.

We met the river Rivelin - one of 5 rivers that flow through Sheffield (which is why we had heavy flooding in 2007).

The Rivelin and the Wyming Brook flow into the Rivelin Dam.

To walk back to the car park, we took the path along by the brook.

We had just missed a guided Fungal Foray walk, I'm going to check the website and see if we can find another guided walk soon. Its a lovely woodland walk.

Thoresby Park

We managed to get away with only one day or rain this week - so I think we did pretty well! We have had some great blue skies. On Thursday, the young man organised himself a day with his friends playing football and entertaining them with lunch - he makes great toast! So hubby took ourselves off to explore somewhere we hadn't been for 20 years - yet still on our doorstep!




Every time I post about day trips to Clumber Park, Jill over at I should have listened to my mother instructs me to try Thoresby Park - just a couple of miles further. I remember going to Thoresby market when hubby and I first go together (its a huge Sunday market, and was full of tat, so we didn't go back), we had a walk around the park then, but then somehow forgot about it. Well thanks to Jill's prompting, we decided to revisit.

The last time we went, the big house had been empty and sad looking, but apparently it was bought in 2010 by Warner group and is now a hotel. The upside of this is that you can now get in and have a look around.

It is a beautiful old house and it stands in really tranquil surroundings and grounds. The family who owned it, originally sold it to the Coal Board as a lot of damage had been done through mining under it. They still own the rest of the estate though. It must be so sad to be the one who lets it go after all the history.

This time last year, we visited Versaille. The topiary is not as spectacular in North Notts!

We continued our walk around the estate and happened upon the pretty little church.

I loved these two either side of the door.

It also has some pretty little estate house too.

Its a fab place for a day out and a walk. Its free to get in and park. The old stables house a few great little galleries and a nice looking cafe. They are also making a military museum too which will be open in April next year.

This building was fascinating. It has plant sales in it. I asked the owner what it used to be and he said it was summer stables for the Shire Horses as it was cooler for them.

Many many thanks Jill for suggesting Thoresby Park - its somewhere we will visit again. Its great for walking too as it is very flat!!! I love blogland for the inspiration.

We have really enjoyed our Staycation this week. We tried to act as if we were on holiday and get out as much as we could. I have been amazed at how little we have spent. Apart from petrol money (and only Whitby was more than 20 miles away), and the Fish and Chips, and the cinema tickets, we havn't spent a penny! We took flasks and picnics and I can honestly say its been brilliant. Hope you enjoyed coming along too.

Monsal, Cressbrook and Litton Dales

On Wednesday we were supposed to be doing a day trip to York, but a sideways glance at the Bank Balance, combined with brilliant blue skies again, suggested somewhere where the temptation to shop would not be possible. And so it was no great hardship to pack a picnic and head off to one of my favorite places in the whole world - spectacular Monsal Dale.
I love this place and the many interesting and truly beautiful places around here.

When I am cooped up in my office on lovely days, I dream of being able to ramble around this place. Here I am - living the dream.

We started our walk by the old mill at Cressbrook. This was a cotton mill in the 1700's and children from the workhouses as far away as London were brought here to work. The mill has recently been converted into very swish apartments.

We wandered through Water-Cum-Jolly (great name). This is where the river formed a great mill pond to power the mill at Cressbrook.

The mill owners house stands at the top - overlooking (as they all seemed to do) the mill below. Its a stunning Gothic pile and can currently be hired out for weddings.

Lots of the old mechanics of the mill ponds and relics from the mill can be seen along the way making it even more interesting. You know I love a great walk littered with an Industrial past!

We eventually came to the mill at Litton. This was a notorious mill and the owners were very cruel to the children who worked here. Again, this has been turned into apartments, but I don't know how I would feel living in something with such a horrific past.

Its difficult to imagine that this valley was once heavily industrialised. I saw a notice that said that the river Wye is 22 miles long in Derbyshire and there is evidence of 25 mills along it.

In the past, we always have turned around and retraced our steps, as I didn't realise that you could cross the river and return over the (very high, very steep)moor. After a conversation with another walker, we decided to give this route a go.

Whilst I am glad we did this, because the views were stunning, I don't know if I would attempt it again. It was very high with narrow paths and sheer drops in parts. Hubby and the young man were amused by my terror!

What I also find amazing about this area is that it used to actually be the sea bed - you can see fossils in the rocks. Volcanoes erupted and it is now as far away from the sea as it is possible to be in England. It makes me realise that we live on a dangerous planet.

The trees added to the spectacle.

You get a better look at Cressbrook Hall from here too. If you enlarge this you will see how grand it is.

And another view of Cressbrook Mill - from higher up this time. Cotton was spun at the mill until 1930, and synthetic fibres were produced here after that.

The old railway line that used to run through here has been defunct for some time. I was horrified to discover that they are opening up the 4 tunnels along here for cyclists!! If there is one thing I hate more than heights, its tunnels! Especially when you can't see the light at the end of!!!

The boys have plans for a cycle trip - whilst I will look after their bags sat outside the Monsal Head Hotel!!!

Sheffield

So on Tuesday we had a rainy day, so thought we would just pop into Sheffield. We walked through the Peace Gardens,

into the Winter Gardens,

as our destination was the Millenium Galleries. There are three Galleries open at the moment, and they are all free. My favourite is the one that shows what we used to make in Sheffield. Whilst cutlery is not made as much as it was in the city these days, knifes - surgical blades etc are still produced here. We have several very big succesful companies making surgical blades that go around the world.

This display cabinet used to hang in the foyer of Thomas Turner and Co (no longer around) showing some of the work that they used to do.

We also used to make a lot of silver ware too and the Sheffield Assay Office is still one of the busiest in the country. This was a new piece commisioned for the millenium.

And here are a few of the older pieces.

Because we have been out and about this week, Ive really noticed the Autumn colours - even in the heart of the city.

Apparantly the wheel is due to come down next week - after Fright Night which is on Sunday.

After a quick breeze around TK Maxx and John Lewis (or Cole Brothers as I still call it!!), we went to the cinema - well we are on holiday! I love the Showroom Cinema in town, it is an independant one - a rarity these days.

I love everything about the Showroom Cinema. The building is great, the bar and food are great, and the seats are comfy.