Sheffield, South Yorkshire – home of Stainless Steel and Blue John Stone

Sheffield may be classed as a town, a city, and a metropolitan borough in the county of South Yorkshire, north-central England.

Sheffield lies about 160 miles (260 km) northwest of London.

Jacky

Our journey took us just outside the City of Sheffield in a suburb called Crookes. Apart from the modern supermarkets, it is like a step back in time.  Once we left the mish-mash of modern and historic buildings which made up central Sheffield, we were in a bygone world of stone walls and lush, unspoilt countryside. Gerry had to navigate the narrow roads in our Hyundai Kona. Often there is only room for one car and you have to pull over and wait until the traffic has passed on the other side.  But courtesy is dominant here and people even stop to let you cross the roads with your doggies. The forest was a highlight for me.  The energy of the forest is quite magical and everyone you meet is in a good mood because the weather is fine and the surroundings are so unspoilt.

Gerry

We spent a couple of days with Jacky’s good friend Dawn and Nigel in London. Then north to Preston where Jacky’s brother Tim lives. Tim’s son graciously offered his house for us to stay in whenever we needed somewhere to stay, as he is a bachelor and works in Coningsby for the Air Force on the Typhoon project during the week.

Tim and Mary took us to Sheffield the day before so we could meet the clan before our sit started the next day. This is a great idea where possible as it puts the owners at ease knowing their animals will be well cared for and loved while they are away. But for us it gives us a chance to familiarise ourselves with the pets and ask any questions that we didn’t think of after reading the welcome forms. The house was cosy and the animals were very cute. Oh yes, the owners were lovely and accommodating as well: giving us a bottle of Prosecco and a souvenir Linda made as she does pottery and crafts.

On Saturday we officially started the house sit and it took us a lot longer to get there as the Saturday morning traffic wasn’t great. Ruby the border collie was a little out of sorts but the cats seemed fine. We looked around the city markets early in the afternoon and bought a few fresh fruit and veggies to start us off. Before dinner, we took Ruby for a walk at the local park and enjoyed a few throws and chases of the ball. We had to take it a little easy as she had some leg cartilage problems but would chase until she collapsed if you let her.

The next few days were spent exploring the area and places where we could take Ruby for walks.

Well the first forest (Whitely Woods) we went to was magic as in the centre of the forest near the reservoir there was a coffee shop where all the dog owners tended to gather and either have coffee (which was just the way we like a flat white) or breakfast and lunch. I might add the raspberry chocolate brownies were a big hit as well and we are not big sweet eaters (well Jacky isn’t, I just refrain as much as I can). The walks in the forest were so well laid out with a lovely creek running through it and stretching for miles, only ten minutes from Sheffield city centre. Also different levels of slope depending on how hard you want to make it. One day Jacky and I took a few new trails and ended up returning to the car about two and a half hours later. A few missed turns and the GPS on the phone isn’t great in the forest as it doesn’t easily pick up the direction you are going because your hand doesn’t stay as steady as it would in the car.

After the first full day with Ruby, we were settled in and Ruby had accepted us into her pack.

This gave us a chance to explore some of the local areas when we know the pets have settled. Trips to Castleton and Bakewell left us with a thirst to explore more and more of this beautiful area.

By the end of our stay Ruby had settled down; must have been the sTREss Away classes we did with her. Even the owners said, when they returned, how calm she  seemed. All that love and exercise!

We had one major incident where we had been given a bottle of red wine by Duncan, (Tim’s son). Unusually it had a cork! Unfortunately, after searching high and low we discovered they didn’t own a cork screw. With my youthful experience coming to the fore I attempted to open the bottle by pushing the cork through with a fork and then sort of coax the wine out, with a few bits of cork for good measure. Unfortunately both my efforts had similar results. So the next time we got a bottle and it required a corkscrew I made a sojourn to the neighbours. The first was not home but the next neighbour Derek from Leeds came to the rescue. As fate would have it we didn’t drink the entire bottle so I corked and put it in the fridge. The next day I went to pull it out and It would not come out! I had pushed it in too far. Off to Derek’s place, after a bit of a discussion I found out that next week Derek and his wife were off to Brisbane for three weeks! Small world hey? About an hour later the door bell rang and when I answered it there was standing Derek with a corkscrew that he had been given on an Emirates flight. A friend for life!

The next day was our last walk before we left and as we were walking Ruby down the street, sure enough Derek was walking home from work towards us. He said “Hi Gerry” and I returned “Hi Derek” as you do. Jacky was a bit shocked because she couldn’t work out how somebody walking down the street in Sheffield, England could possibly know me.

Our goodbyes are always a sad moment especially when we know we will probably never be back again. But the next pets await so chin up and on we go.