City Guide: Sheffield Top Ten
1. Sheffield Winter Garden and Millennium Gardens
• One of the largest temperate glasshouses in the country
• Houses over 2,000 plants from around the world
• Landmark city-centre development
• Adjacent Sheffield galleries have hosted collections by the likes of Vivienne Westwood and John Martin
________________________________________________________________________
• The home of World Snooker since 1977
• Showcases everything from Shakespeare to Chekhov
• Diversity of performers span comedians, musicians, poets, and choirs
• Part of the UK’s largest theatre complex outside London
________________________________________________________________________
• The EIS features a vast gym, 200m running track, as well as some of the country’s most advanced sports medicine facilities, making it a premier UK sports venue
• Used by athletes of all shapes and sizes, including the British Boxing Team
• Hosted the British Olympic Team in the run up to the London Olympics
________________________________________________________________________
• Top musical and sporting events – world title fights, Premier League darts, The Beach Boys, Elton John, Whitney Houston and the Arctic Monkeys
• Home to the city’s ice hockey team – The Sheffield Steelers
________________________________________________________________________
5. Eco-friendliness
• Named the “Greenest City on the Planet” after sending the least amount of waste to landfill sites in 2013 – less than 1% of all household rubbish
• Sheffield boasts over 2 million trees – arguably Europe’s greenest urban area.
• 83 parks, 4 public gardens
• Borders England’s oldest National Park, the Peak District
________________________________________________________________________
• The Sheffield Walk of Fame, this collection of plaques lines up outside the city’s Town Hall in homage to its Hollywood cousin
• Sheffield’s most famous sons and daughters include Bond villain, Sharpe hero, Sean Bean, Heptathlete, Jessica Ennis, and Monty Python star, Michael Palin
________________________________________________________________________
• The city centre is a 30 minute ride from the fringe of the Peak District – the UK’s oldest National Park
• Accommodation in Sheffield; The Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel (from £35.50 p/p B&B) offers visitors free bike storage, energy bars and route maps to prepare them as they set out for a day’s riding, or ramble amidst the 550 square miles of spectacular English terrain
________________________________________________________________________
8. Cycle-friendliness
• Sheffield is acknowledged as a cycle-friendly destination
• It’s situated beside the Trans-Pennine Trail and numerous pathways winding up into the surrounding hills.
• Hosted stage one of Le Tour De France in 2014
• Tour route markers remain on display to allow more casual riders to echo their heroes from the Peloton
________________________________________________________________________
9. Trams
• The city’s state of the art “SuperTram” system is a mere 15 years old
• Historically, horse-drawn trams patrolled the city as far back at 1873
• Visitors can follow the traditional routes and navigate the hills to the city’s suburbs
________________________________________________________________________
10. Value for Money
• Voted the best value city-break in the UK
• Average spend is just £154 a night, less than half the average of Edinburgh
________________________________________________________________________
Suggested Hotels
City centre: 4 Star, Novotel Centre, Sheffield – try and excuse their ugly website
Countryside: Whitley Hall, a 16th century ivy-clad mansion
Boutique: Leopold, contemporary chic with architectural character – formally a Grade II listed Boy’s Grammar School
Competitive: The Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel for visitors with a sense of adventure, who want to explore by bike / on foot
Note: there are no 5 star hotels in the city