A Walk in Ecclesall Woods

It has been a while since we've been in Ecclesall Woods, but yesterday a shopping trip took us along the leafy roads that go through them.  It's early for the English bluebell flowers that grow in these ancient woods, but as we parked up in our usual lay-by spot we could see them through the openings in the fence.  In a week or two they'll be at their best and there'll be a haze of blue in these woods.  

A wood is my favourite kind of habitat.  In the Springtime the young beech leaves are a vivid lime green. There are starry-shaped wood anemones, quantities of wild garlic leaves, golden yellow celandines and the beauty of the delicate English bluebells.

It was rather a cloudy day yesterday (and it's the same today) so it wasn't the best weather for a walk in the woods and photo taking, but it was a good morning out-and-about in an area that's a great green space for the local community.  

Our weekend

As you can see the snow arrived on Saturday night along with freezing fog.  We're snowed in and, of course, local family members living on even higher ground in our hilly city cannot get out to work as the side roads are icy.  Gritters cannot come out because of the fog and ice and the snow and ice won't melt in these freezing temperatures. We have provisions and shelter so we are managing so far.  We think of those in the same situation and hope everyone stays safe. 

That's all for now, speak again soon.

Books from the Local Library, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

All the books I reserved from the library recently are ones by authors I've previously enjoyed.  Often I read books in the crime/mystery category or historical novels.  I've started Stephen Booth's Drowned Lives.  His usual series is set in Derbyshire and I've read most of them featuring the police detectives Ben Cooper and Diana Fry with each one describing a place in the county that can be recognised from the description. However, Drowned Lives is a stand alone historical mystery novel, a story of hidden secrets among the inland waterways of South Staffordshire. 

The jacket blurb - "When a council officer Chris Buckley is approached by an odd old man demanding help in healing a decades-old family rift he sends the stranger away.  But then the old man is murdered and the police arrive on Chris's doorstep asking questions to which he has no answers.  As Chris begins to look into the circumstances of the murder he discovers a deadly secret in the silt and mud of the local canals that he'll realise was better kept buried".   

In The Name of The Family is by Sarah Dunant.  I've already read Sacred Hearts and Blood and Beauty.  Internationally bestselling writer Sarah Dunant is well-known for her historical novels that have been translated into many languages .  Like Blood and Beauty, In The Name of The Family is a novel about the Borgias in Renaissance Italy.

The jacket blurb - Doing what Hilary Mantel did for Thomas Cromwell Sarah Dunant tackles the lives of Niccolo Machiavelli and the Borgias with total ease.

Elly Griffith's The Locked Room was published firstly as a hardback version earlier this year and then as a paperback and I've been able to get the paperback from the library after being in a queue.  The mystery is one of a series featuring the forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway and her Norfolk friends.

The jacket blurb - Ruth is in London clearing out her mother's belongings when she makes a surprising discovery; a photograph of her Norfolk cottage taken before Ruth lived there.  The only clue is written on the back of the photo: Dawn, 1963.  Ruth returns to Norfolk determined to solve the mystery.  Then Covid-19 strikes. Ruth and her daughter Kate are locked down in their cottage.  Luckily the house next door is rented by a woman called Zoe and they become friendly while clapping for carers on their doorsteps.  Unfortunately events take a deadly turn.

Another favourite writer is Natasha Solomans writing under the name N.E. Solomans since this is her first thriller, The Bone Road.

The jacket blurb - High up on a mountain road in the Balkans, former Olympic cyclist Heather Bishop races her journalistic boyfriend Ryan.  But when he suddenly disappears during the ride, suspicion falls on her.  Local police inspector Simo Subotic already has his hands full investigating two bodies that have been washed up on the banks of the River Drina.  Something is telling him that the two cases are connected. Only together can Simo and Heather hope to uncover the truth in time.  Their search not only exposes the darkness of Ryan's past but exhumes dangerous secrets of the region still reeling from the trauma of war.  Are some secrets so devastating that they should remain buried? 

As I haven't read any books set in the Balkans I'm looking forward to learning more about this region. The other novels will also be of interest since there'll be new plots and settings in each of them. Some writers have used the time of the pandemic and their personal lockdowns to create imagined scenarios during a time of crisis.  This adds a contemporary and dramatic dimension to their work.

Thank you for coming by.  I hope the week ahead is a good one for you.

Beauchief Abbey Walk

The sun continues to shine which makes all the difference to feelings of well being especially during times of going beyond the four walls of our home.  Mainly I've been walking in my usual local places, but yesterday we were in the Abbeydale area of our green city so we turned up a country lane that leads to public footpaths around Beauchief Abbey and the surrounding golf course. It's always a pleasant, peaceful place to park up and take a short walk in the Abbey grounds.

Beauchief Abbey cottages and gardens

There's an information board giving details of the Abbey's history, but what I wanted to do this time was to find a way into the churchyard.  At first all I could see was a drystone wall and beyond that brambles, ferns and other vegetation.  Then following around the wall I saw the gate, lifted the latch, the gate swung open and I went in.

Beyond the drystone wall is the golf course where groups of golfers were trundling their golf buggies around as they played their shots on the greens and a lady was in one of the cottage gardens so I didn't feel alone.  At the same time it was very a peaceful place to be. In the past I've posted other visits including inside the Abbey (click on the label Beauchief Abbey at the bottom of the page to see other visits). On this occasion it was good just to walk around the grounds on a sunny day.

Back up the lane there are some old stone houses with well tended hedges and no doubt beautiful gardens.

I didn't walk in the woods that day although there's plenty of choice as Ecclesall Woods and the Woodland Discovery Centre are close by.  It was enough to take time out and enjoy what our green city has to offer.

We're going to visit our son who lives in the English Midlands.  I'm sure there'll be photos taken of our trip which I'll share another time.

Thank you for your visits and the kind comments you leave on my blog.  Have a good day and a great weekend.