The Old Sweet Shop

The Old Sweet Shop is an art lovers paradise. With a huge variety of things including local artists work, stationary, clothing, a gallery currently  featuring my favourite Sheffield artist - Craww and lots of other bits and bobs. 

I love coming in here to browse, the owner is really friendly and there is so much to discover. If you like art and you haven't visited The Old Sweet Shop yet, well..what have you been doing?

The Winter Gardens

The winter gardens is a stunning place. Me and my little sister were the first members of public to set foot in here when the queen opened it, back in 2003!

If you get hungry there is a Zooby's and Fancie.
There is also a gallery inside the winter gardens where you can see some great exhibitions. I saw some breathtaking apocalyptic paintings there a while back. Also the kid acne exhibition was awesome!

Graves Art Gallery

The city centre library is a wonderful place. Whether you want to browse, catch up with the outside world via the Internet or borrow some music or fantastic world cinema, he library has it all..

Yesterday I visited the gallery above the library - Graves gallery.

They currently have an Andy Warhol exhibition full of fascinating memoirs plus a few self portraits. I haven't seen that much of his work, only the classic Monroe and Campbell's soup can, so it was a great education for me. Plus reading all this background information on hims and seeing that personality reflected in his art gives you a better understanding of the kind of character he was.

Highlights from the other exhibitions included a Damien Hirst painting featuring a skull, lots of vivid bright colours and jewels. There was also some great contemporary art and I particularly liked a beaded design of a machine gun by Hew Locke. I believe the beads represented the bullets which were set against this blood red fabric.

The shop offers fantastic arty postcards, pinhole cameras and other quirky souvenirs that you'd expect from a gallery. The also have a cafe that does a pretty decent hot chocolate.

Millhouses Park

I love this walk from the side of the big Tesco's on Abbeydale road to Millhouses park. It provides a lovely backdrop if you fancy a jog and it leads nicely to Ecclesall woods which compliments the route nicely.

If you crawl through the fencing on this path you will find a lovely discovery.

 Once you've explored then follow the river along and up to Millhouses park. A beautiful flat park with dog walkers, joggers and many friendly folk.
If it's open then a trip to the cafe is recommended. It's just by the boating pool.

A fish stream

There is also an impressive selection of sports and activities including a skate bowl, assault course, outdoor gym, small climbing wall, football fields, a flower garden and tennis courts.

Lynwood Gardens Outdoor Cinema

Lynwood gardens is a small nature reserve in Broomhall. You wouldn't realise it was there if you didn't venture past Aunt Sally's and go exploring beyond their car park. Last Saturday I strolled down the lit path for an exciting outdoor cinema event.

 

There must have been around fifty people that turned up to watch a film which we chose based upon a vote on the night (which turned out to be the Big Lebowski). All the proceeds from the £5 entry fee went to fund the charity Dig Deep and also a percentage of it went into Lynwood Gardens.

We all sat around on picnic tables, camping chairs and rugs. Most of the crowd were my age, so mid twenties and everyone was friendly and lovely. There was also amazing cake (including Guinness cake courtesy of the rude shipyard, still warm..hello!) which I enjoyed with a glass of red wine from the pub.

All in all it was a wonderful experience and all for a good cause!

Sheffield City Centre - Devonshire Quarter

After an early morning visit to the weekly carboot sale on Wellington street, I decided to take a nice stroll (or at least the cycling equivalent) through town.

After a quick pick me up in the form of a latte and pain au raisin, I was more than ready! Here is my recordings of a lovely quiet Division street at 8am on a Sunday. Quite a stark contrast to tramlines a few weeks ago.

A vast majority of my youth was spent meeting friends and sitting in this field around the skate park. Occasionally I'd bring my skateboard, join the skaters and cause numerous injuries to myself.

I wonder what has happened to the table tennis that was here for a month or so. I was always tempted but never really had anyone to play with! Hopefully they'll bring them back again, I loved seeing the public interact with each other whilst watching intense games.

Sunnybank Nature Reserve

a beetle sculpture

A crow feather?

 

I've often cycled through here but never really stopped to appreciate this woody nature reserve just off Ecclesall road.
Not really the first place you would expect to find a moment of snatched tranquillity - behind a petrol pump amidst the jostling noisy traffic of one of Sheffield's busiest roads.
But seek and you shall find and I found frogs, dragonfly, many different species of birds, lovely tall trees and much more.
If you can ignore the sound pollution and the occasional empty can or other rubbish then this place is a perfect retreat for relaxing and forgetting your worries for a moment.

Sheffield has so many places like this for explorers to find.
When I've found them I'll share them with you too.