A favourite place

I had a birthday at the start of the week - so hubby and I took the day off and went cycling to one of my favourite places in the entire world - Monsal Dale.  I won't overload you with photos as I have brought you here many times before.  We started off here with a full English - big mistake as it took some getting going after that!  I think if search my previous posts from here, you will discover I made the same mistake last time - so some people never learn!

 We follow the old railway track and cycled all 8.5 miles (and back again!).

 The track has very high bridges, and very many long tunnels along the way (and you know I am not keen on either, so I peddle faster!

 Apart from the stunning scenery, the thing that makes this a special place (and bamboozles my mind too) is the Geology of the surroundings.  The Railway track is approx 1000 feet ABOVE sea level.  The red rocks below are lava from a volcano that erupted when these surroundings were at the bottom of the sea!!

 After the eruption, limestone continued to be deposited on top of it for another 350 million years (the skeletons of dead marine life), and then somehow, it ended up where it is today.  A very scary thought.

 After our ride, we popped to visit Tideswell, a small village not far away.  I remember coming here with school when I was 10years old to do Brass Rubbings (I'll have to dig the photos out).

 It is a gorgeous little village.

 Then it was home to get dolled up for a romantic meal for five of us - when really I could just have done with a nice cup of tea and a lie down!

Portland Works

I have had such a fascinating day.  We had a look at what was open locally for the English Heritage Open Days and discovered that Portland Works in Sheffield was opening up briefly for tours.

This amazing building was built in 1877 to house forgers and cutlery makers - the Little Mesters of Sheffield.  The building was recently up for sale and was going to be converted into tiny studio apartments, when locals stepped in an decided to save the works, and keep them true to their original purpose.

 At present they are occupied by several craftsmen, some still making knives, but artists, musicians and other crafts people make a living from these lovely old workshops.

 The inside of the complex is like stepping back in time.  I love that they are working to preserve these works and that they are bringing them back to life.

 Relics from the past litter the site.

 We were able to watch the craftsmen who make their living here, crafting items the same way as they would have been made when the buildings were new.  This gent was forging wood chisels.

 He starts with these blanks.

 And Stuart Mitchell who works in this studio had a wonderful story to tell.  His father had worked here before, and Stuart had started working for his dad when he was just15 years old.  He now made custom knives for customers all over the world.  He is a young man who has a very unique skill that he is keeping alive and hoping to pass on to the next generation.

 Can you guess what material this is?  He is making the handle of a specialist knife from it.  It is Siberian Mammoth Tusk - very very rare and very very expensive.

 One of our favourite spaces was the roof where an eclectic collection of chairs for the present workers to gather and chat.

 Its a brilliant building and such a worthwhile project.  The people involved mainly all have personal  reasons for working on the project.  One lady was collecting cutlery (mainly from ebay)  by Robert Moseley that had been made here.  Her God mother had been Robert Mosley's daughter.

I am intrigued to see how the building gets restored and developed, and how they breathe life back into this stunning old place.

Summer nights

So Summer finally arrived in the UK this week! I really do wish it was always this warm and that I could sit out in the garden until really late like I did last night.  

We had to cancel our romantic few days away this week with my father in law being ill.  Hopefully we should be able to fit it in a little later on.  He is making a miraculous recovery against all odds.  He is someone who loves life - and he's putting up a tremendous fight for it.

 We decided to give ourselves a night off the hospital visiting - it is the most exhausting of all pastimes, especially when you have to fit work in too.  An evening stroll around a local lake did the trick.

PS That wasn't me in the previous photograph - it was the author Milly Johnson - although we are both vertically challenged with dyed dark hair and struggle with the slimming!

Have a pop over to the blog I write for our WI to see what we got up to last night - It was a fabulous meeting.

The Harvester

We live by the side of fields, and when my kids were little, they used to get very excited when they heard the Combine Harvester rumbling down the track behind the houses.  They always wanted me to stop whatever I was doing and walk down the fields to watch it.  This was generally not convenient and I usually went a bit begrudgingly.  

 And then came the terrible time when I heard the Combine rumbling down the track and shouted excitedly "Thats the Combine, lets go and watch it" - and no one else was interested.  The excitement for the kids had gone.  However this evening after work, I heard it and conned my daughter into a walk by promising her a few photo opportunities!!  Hurray!!! (we couldn't get really close though, but never mind).

 I always think that you could make a blog entirely of cloud photographs.

 My Combine Harvester walk has put me back on track in this very topsy turvey week.  And the fact that I managed to drag one of the kids along made it even better!

Art in Sheffield

You know that we have a fantastic art scene here in Sheffield - there is always so much going on.

On our visit into the city yesterday, I snapped this fabulous street art for you by Rocket01 - one of our favourites.

We were heading for "Art in the Park" at the Botanical Gardens.  Such a brilliant place for local artists to display their work.  We loved almost all of it.  We need a large piece for a blank wall in the living room, but at £1900.00 the piece we loved most will have to remain on the wish list - pending a lottery win!

The standard of the works is exceptionally high and ranges from folk who just like to dabble to artists who make a living from their talents.

It was a fabulous atmosphere and lovely and hot and just what hubby and I needed.

We had a major discussion with another family as to whether or not this statue was a real person or not.  The artist assured us it wasn't but we were not convinced.

I love the Botanical Gardens at any time, but with the addition of art, some fab food stalls and music, it was a great place to spend Saturday afternoon.

And then we hot footed in down to another venue where an arts and culture day was taking place.

My daughter had been asked to film the days happenings which were part of the Red Bull Curates day at the Leadmill in Sheffield.  These have been taking part all over the world and feature artists, dancers and bands from the local area, as well as a few stalls.  It was free to get in and it was wonderful to see the talent on display.

I'll show you the film she made when it's edited etc (if I am allowed to!).  She had a great day filming it - its what she wants to do when she finishes at Uni and yesterday made her realise just how much she wants to do this.

I think we recently lost the bid to be the "City of Culture" (to Liverpool I think), but to be fair, Sheffield doesn't really need a phoney badge.  In the 70's and 80's, we did used to be a bit of a cultural wasteland, but not any more.  There is always something happening - and I love it!

Better late than never.

We were on holiday in St Ives when the Olympics were in full flight, and I have to admit that the best night we had was in the Lifeboat Inn when our lovely Jess Ennis won GOLD and the whole pub jumped up in the air.

As you may know, Jess  is a Sheffield Girl of whom we are mightily and justifiably proud.  I love the poster on John Lewis - I don't think that they should take it down.

 And of course, we have the golden post box.

It was great to have a walk around Sheffield in the sun today after a week of sitting by my father in laws bedside in hospital all week.  He is still very poorly but he has made some progress  throughout the week.