to be

A sunny day in dear old Liverpool on Saturday

and a chance to take up The Complete Walk challenge in homage to the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

First stop Henry V at Fact

and 10 minutes and a flat white saw us on the sunny streets again - up to the top of Bold Street

the old bombed out church

amazing Georgian houses

Liverpool in all her glory

cutting along Rodney Street

with a pause for a brick homage moment - totally spellbinding against that blue sky

and on to the Anglican Cathedral for a spot of Hamlet

as ever - taken aback anew with the sheer grandeur of this place

and just loved the Tracey Emin "I felt you and I knew you loved me"

Then we managed to see Othello in the amazing Kazimier Garden, Romeo and Juliet at the Bluecoat and finishing with Much Ado about Nothing at Waterstones in Liverpool One

Before heading underground to James Street Station

Which on closer inspection, along with Hamilton Square, turns out to be the World's oldest deep level underground station!  1886 no less!

and homeward bound . . .

Brutal

Very rare chance over the next couple of weeks to get into some incredible spaces in Sheffield, for this brilliant festival run by Art Sheffield

So Friday afternoon found us entering this door for the first time ever

Any guesses . . .

Yes the amazing Moore Street electricity substation, designed in 1968 by Jefferson Sheard, which has been a listed building for some time for these reasons and looms so intriguingly over the city, illuminated at night but with no apparent entrance or exit or window.

So in we go ..

and up we climb

past immaculate board-marked finish concrete walls

and right to the top

for Steven Claydon's incredible audio visual installation

in this amazing vast space

reverberating right through our bodies - really incredible

But we wanted to fit in another special venue before the day was out - so over to Park Hill

and a search for the long since closed down 'Link Pub' - which we finally found by following the arrows

the boarded up estate pub

with the Mark Fell installation inside

and there's a great review of the whole exhibition by Frieze, which is on all over the city until 18 May - catch it while you can

yodeling

A lovely sunny day yesterday in all respects

First off a visit to the interesting Normanby Hall and Gardens not far from Scunthorpe - built and owned by the Sheffield family, no less.  Former Dukes of Buckingham and the original owners of Buckingham Palace!!

 and a stroll round the grounds revealed some strange but amazing blooms

 as well as displays of lovely Spring primroses

and our lovely hosts for the day pose in the walled garden

 before we head for the exotica of the greenhouses

 and the quaint gardeners' sheds, with their blue walls to ward off the flies!

 And we were graced with this amazing specimen of a peacock

showing off his finery

Loved the local sculpture by Harold Gosney.  Lovely article here from a previous exhibition telling us a bit more about the rather unsung Harold Gosney and his beautiful work.  And here's a date for your diary if you'd like to get to his next exhibition in June.

Anyway by now our little gang of six were starving, so a hearty Sunday lunch was much enjoyed at the friendly little Butchers Arms in Winterton.  Such a joy to drive through these little villages totally unknown to us before.

And our final coup was the lovely Goxhill Memorial Hall for a sumptuous night of live music courtesy of the LiveLincs Rural Touring programme, together with a hastily acquired bag of beer, vino and chocolate from the village SPAR . . . .

And our band for the night were all the way from the Canadian prairies on their first ever tour of England!!  Woody Holler and his Orchestra  - masters of the cowboy yodel and great musicians.

 (and just had to add this lovely poster from the opening night at the Memorial Hall)

But I bet by now you'd like to hear a sample of Woody and his band - so click here, relax and join in the fun

Ghost Riders in the Sky

and if you're slowly becoming fans as we were, then you'll enjoy this fab little video of their first time on the road back in 2010, some lovely shots of the prairie towns in mid Canada too.

and you can still catch their UK tour til the end of April.