Sunday 21 June 2015

With feathers all stubby and brown.......

We took a walk around the lake at Clumber Park with the walking group last week - followed by a BBQ.  It was lovely and we didn't let a bit of mizzly drizzle spoil our fun.






 But the stars of the day.....

 were these gorgeous Cygnets.

 So perfect.
 And fluffy.



We all loved them

Friday 19 June 2015

Streets in the sky

Hubby and I have been regular visitors at Sheffield's Peddlar  night markets since they started last Autumn.  The markets are predominately street food carts (totally delicious and so spoilt for choice), some art, a bar and a dj.  They are aimed at the young "hipster" crowd, but the food is too tasty to stay away!  They are always held in very obscure urban area's, but that adds to the interest! 


 We were excited to hear that the one last weekend was to be held at the Urban Splash development at Park Hill Flats - something that I've written about many times on my blog.
 We decided to walk up from town and had to keep stopping to photograph the view on the way up!  It's a tad steep!  Although the skies were grey on Saturday, the rain held off.

 You may remember I wrote about this fabulous place/eyesore (opinion has always been split!) when they lit up the graffiti on the bridge between the flats.  The "I love you, will you marry me " bridge is quite famous now!  (and research showed that she sadly did not marry him!).

 The DJ was rocking out banging tunes, and the "design" people were exhibiting their fantastic ware's in the old on site pub "The Scottish Queen".  Hubby regaled me with tales of police raids he had done here when the place had "gone to the dogs".  The "Streets in the Sky" were built in the late 1950's to re house people that were being moved from slum clearances across the city.  The clever planners at that time moved neighbours to be next door to existing neighbours and for a long time the place was considered OK to live in.  Many of the ex occupants still talk about the great community spirit and the feeling of safety living here.  Then in the mid 1970's, the council decided to move all the "problem" citizens in, and that heralded it's demise.



 Urban Splash are doing a great job making the 900+ apartments current and funky and they are situated in a great spot with one of the best views of the city and immediately  behind the railway station.  If they were in London, they would be fetching far more than their current £100K price tag.


 We enjoyed a good look around the sales office and one of the show flats.
 I love the way they have kept their old street names.



 And of course we finished off with a tasty treat!  It was well worth the climb up the hill!

Sunday 14 June 2015

Anglesey Adventures

The young man is part way through a lengthy project with his University degree on the island of Anglesey just off Wales.  As he and his friend are fending for themselves, hubby and I thought we would use the opportunity to slip in a camping few days to visit somewhere we had never been - and feed the young man at the same time

 We were blessed with great weather (although chilly at night).
 The island is geologically fascinating (hence his project) and when we met up with him each evening, he took great pleasure in explaining every rock formation to us.
 We also found lots of explanations dotted around the coast.
 We had a really relaxing few days.  The scenery is stunning and the beaches vast and empty.

 We did lots of walking and exploring.






 We met up each evening to feed the duo.  We managed to include an impromptu beach BBQ which was great fun and possibly our best meal of few days.  Great company, great catching games and some stunning rock pooling!




 We even found a ship wreck.  This vessel was wrecked in October 1959 and plenty of it still remains to be seen today.


We really enjoyed our few days in Wales.  We shall definitely visit Anglesey again.