Summer in Sheffield

Summer 2018

Summer in Sheffield meant long hot days, barbecues in the park, hikes, pub visits and generally a lot more time outside.

Did I mention the barbecues and picnics? Because we had a lot of them! 

Disposable one-use BBQs are super popular in England, and allowed in many parks, so the number of times we bussed over to Jenessa's house, walked to the park and spent a lovely afternoon there cooking and hanging out were probably countless!

As Sheffield heated up, so too did my little flat, until it became unbearable to be in there from the afternoon until about 8pm in the evening. To combat this, we spent most evenings walking down to Kelham Island (pictured below) to have a drink at one of our favourite pubs the Stew and Oyster, to play cards and scrabble.

Of course the most important event of the summer should not be forgotten! The Football world cup frenzy had come to England, and we joined in wholeheartedly (even if Ben and I were on opposing teams) dragging our friends along to watch at pubs as much as we could! For some strange reason me jumping up in down in my football shirt as the french won the final didn't seem to be met with any enthusiasm from the English, who lost in the semi final. Funny that. 

The other notable event of the summer was Janae's birthday, as we had discovered a mutual love of ABBA by now, we took her on a surprise day, starting with a trip to see the second Mamma Mia movie, followed by a bottomless brunch! 

Ben had a cold but powered through like a champion, and a few glasses later we were all reliving the movie probably a little too much. Lucky we had been given a private booth!

Collingham, June

June 2018

For our last fun event in June before things got serious with thesising (that's totally a verb right) and before everyone came back from their holidays, we decided to book a cheap cottage for a weekend away. 
After trawling airbnb, we settled on Collingham, as not only did the place look cute and affordable, but it was only a two hour train journey away.

It felt like such a cosy cottage and we were super pleased with it! The bathroom also lived up to expectation, with an epic bath. I bought bath bombs in preparation! This was extremely exciting as my flat in Sheffield was sadly bathless. 

We decided on a countryside walk once we had settled in, which proved very pretty indeed. As it was summer time, all the flowers were out, reminding me how charming English countryside could be. I felt like I was in one of my childhood books called Brambly Hedge.

After a nice walk around, we decided to order fish and chips from the local, as we were too lazy to cook and it had excellent reviews. My first time actually eating fish from a fish and chip shop, and I loved it! (The batter and lemon juice helped immensely).

The next day we were feeling more energetic, so we went for a longer walk in search of a stream showing up on google maps, but ended up wandering along fields for ages until we had to admit defeat, Google Maps had led us astray again! We enjoyed the walk regardless, and found huge dandelions along the way (and luckily no marauding cows, which is always my concern in the countryside).

Having worked up an appetite, we decided to make pizza from scratch, and played cards in the sun while we waited for the dough to rise.

And of course, beers in the sunshine!

And an aperitif of mushroom bruschetta

...followed by said pizza...

And finished off with pikelets for breakfast the next morning (and Lotus biscoff spread!)

Did I mention the bath bomb and the glass of Prosecco in the bath? Heaven. All in all we had a lovely couple of days away, relaxing and enjoying the sunshine.

 I wasn't looking forward to going back to serious study!

June: Cheese and a Ball

June 2018 

Although we were working hard on thesis research, classes were out (and undergraduates were on holiday the lucky bastards). We felt a sense of that holiday feeling, which was helped along by the Archaeology Ball!

To nobody's surprise I'm sure, I took Ben along with me as my plus one. It was fun getting dressed up together, taking photos, and forgetting about research for the night. It was rather low-key however, and by 9pm most people were drifting out. Still, it was a fun experience and I didn't regret going at all.

My friends all went away over June on mini European holidays to make the most of the sun. Ben and I were feeling rather poor, however so kept things a little more small scale. We decided to treat ourselves to a weekend away somewhere close by (see my next post) and an epic cheese tasting in Sheffield. 

I found the event quite by chance on Facebook, and at 25 pounds a head, it felt reasonable, though on the pricier end. We had no idea what to expect, so had a light dinner first (this would prove to be a mistake!) before walking down to the local neighbourhood of Kelham island.

 First we were treated to a warm welcome, and then given a tour of the cheese making process. Aside from having to wear silly-looking gear to keep things hygienic, the tour was extremely interesting. I couldn't wait for the tasting!

We were absolutely blown away by the portions! The first course involved a whole baked brie EACH!! Paired with a beautiful Rosé. 

Unlimited bread, crackers, and seven courses of cheese (each paired with a different wine) we could barely roll ourselves out of there! 

Each course was accompanied by an interesting description from our host on both the cheese and the wine, and we left feeling like we would we have paid double the price for such an amazing and generously portioned 'tasting', our only regret was not being able to book again!

Bakewell

June 2018

One of Sheffield's selling factors is its proximity to the Peak District, and although this is best seen by car, buses do run some routes here. One weekend we decided to go to Bakewell, home of the famous tart by the same name (by which I mean food item).

The village is wonderfully quaint, featuring tearooms and cheese shops and all sorts of adorable places to pop into. (Yes, of course I bought a cheese wheel!) I was quite excited to discover that Jane Austen revised her book 'Pride and Prejudice' whilst staying in the town.

We were lucky enough to have picked a wonderfully sunny day, and decided to stroll by the river to work up an appetite for the packed sandwiches we had brought (taking a train with sandwiches had made me gleefully feel like I was in a Famous Five novel). 

The medieval five-arched stone bridge dating from the 1300s, was especially lovely to walk by.


The river Wye was also ridiculously pretty, and we wandered along it imagining who lived in those grand houses and how lovely it must be to have dinner overlooking the river, listening to it burble by.


You could tell summer was finally upon us, as we took welcome respite in the shade of the trees. Of course, we had to picnic by the river!

Sandwiches eaten, we started on the real reason we were there, Bakewell tarts! The story (largely unfounded but who knows) goes that in 1820 the landlady of the local inn left her cook instructions to make a jam tart with an egg almond base. 

However the foolish cook instead spread the eggs and almond paste on top of the jam instead of putting them in the pastry, and thus the Bakewell tart was born! It was rather tasty, though quite crumbly. 

Bakewell had a timelessness to it, which made me feel like I could return in 30 years, and nothing would have changed. That sense is after all, one of my favourite things about England.