sky high

Great exhibition at Park Hill flats at the moment in Sheffield - Love Among the Ruins.  Some brilliant photos from 1961 and 1988 - the black and white and colour contrasts are poignant too.  And also incredible film footage from the early 60s when the bustling shopping area in the flats was in full swing and a vibrant community thrived.

So on Saturday we'd booked onto a walking architecture tour of the undeveloped parts of the now derelict site.  Being fenced off and unmaintained, the weeds have flourished since my last visit.  Andrew Jackson from the Twentieth Century Society led the walk.

Here's one of the 4 pubs on the site - we were inside this a couple of years ago to see a great video installation as part of the Art Sheffield 2016 festival - Up Down Top Bottom Strange and Charm

some of the original mosaics and signs remain

This dry hot summer has given the landscape a kind of pampas grass feel as we look over to the developed Urban Splash section.

Always loved the walkways

and here's another of the pubs

and some wild colour

This is the site of the original Grace Hill Nursery.  Piece in the Sheffield Star on the move to the new site.

More of the colourful mosaics that have stood the test of time

Recent fire damage to one of the blocks

New home of the lovely S1Artspace in the old Park Hill garages - and the flat roof was originally a play area.  S1Artspace rescued this from demolition by moving in this summer.

And for the final bit of the tour we headed into the new Urban Splash part of the development - where some of the original staircases have been kept in.

but the "milk float" corridors have been narrowed a bit to provide more private entrances to the flats.  Loved the personalised glass corner displays at each flat.

Unsurpassed views across our wonderful city of Sheffield

Good appreciation of the original concept of the graduation in brick colours from red at the bottom to pale yellow at the top.  These were replaced with bright panels in the first phase of development but will be retained in the future work.

And a feel for the great open public space behind the flats.  Which could easily have ended up housing a multi story car park if developers had got their way.

A great day - and ended with a relaxing coffee at the lovely South Street Kitchen which opened earlier this year.

low tide

There's been loads of damage to the Wirral coast over the past weeks with some terrifying moments recorded on Youtube (see later).

But on Saturday afternoon the sky over Hoylake and Meols turned a deep grey, the sand looked orange in the strange light and the far away tide was a silver line of dancing surf.

Had I been a painter, a watercolour would have captured this perfectly, but by the time I'd stopped and tried to capture the colours on my camera, the moment had passed.  Or as Seamus Heaney put it so eloquently in that wonderful poem, Postcript 

"Useless to think you'll park and capture it
More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open"

By Monday there was a transformation and as we wandered along West Kirby front, the marine lake was mirror-still, the Welsh mountains stood calm as ever across the Dee esturary and Hilbre and the Little Eye were accessible over the sands. 

and here we were looking right across to the Welsh coastline we explored on the other side of the river last September - see River Ride

and as we returned to the car, the sun started to dip and the clouds set in and the mirror images were amazing!  Not quite as colourful as those I took back in August - see Ice Cream Castles but gentle in all shades of grey and changing every second.

Beautiful.

So here's some of the YouTube coverage of the high tides and storms this past couple of months . . .

West Kirby

and Hoylake

and across the other side of the peninsula, the Mersey is battering Vale Park in New Brighton!

All the reasons why I love the sea so much.  Wild, calm, untamable, unpredictable, ever-changing.

an education

Hard to believe we didn't know about Sudley House now we've visited!

Fabulous floors, fireplaces and features!

 Priceless art collected by George Holt

 Views over the Dee to the Welsh hills

 Quirky chairs

 Beautiful interior

 and another fab floor outside on the verandah

and what's more, we learned all about the artist George Romney in a fascinating talk, thoroughly enjoyed the Bedford Lemere exhibition of architectural photographs of Liverpool at the turn of the 20th century and had a scrumptious homemade lunch in the lovely little cafe.

Highly recommended day out.

And to add full circle to the visit - turns out George Holt founded Blackburne House the school my grandmother went to, which we took Mum to for her birthday last November!

Cheers!

Yesterday ended up with tastings of the wonderful Thornbridge brews at the Packhorse Inn at Little Longstone . . .

But it started with the much-looked-forward-to arrival of our friend Pete from Boston USA, an 'award winning' coffee at Bragazzi's then off into the sweltering heat of the day and the Peak District.

and CONGRATS to Bragazzi's for this award - well deserved. http://www.bragazzis.co.uk/news.html

First stop ice creams at the disused Miller's Dale station

You would never have thought this derelict station was so important in it's heyday - just read here

Source: Paul Wright http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/millers_dale

Camera tricks hanging over the huge derelict viaducts.

EFFECT: Partial colour Red

EFFECT: Posterization - black and white

EFFECT: Posterization - colour

EFFECT: Posterization - colour

EFFECT: Pop colour

then onward to the old lime kilns - dank and spooky

 and discovery of the beautifully scented common spotted orchid

but then the decidedly undelightful discovery that the Angler's Rest had just closed and we were hot and thirsty!!

 and that's how we ended up at the Packhorse Inn - full circle story - wonderful day!!