Like many English cities, Sheffield owes its modern day position as a major urban centre to its industrial past, having pioneered advances in the production of crucible steel in the 18th century and stainless steel in the early 20th century. Although manufacturing in Sheffield has ceased to be the major industry it once was, such is the strength of its historical connection to metalwork that Sheffield United Football Club are still known by their nickname “the blades” and the city’s ice hockey team are named the Sheffield Steelers.
Perhaps surprisingly for a city with such a strong industrial heritage, Sheffield has a reputation for being England’s greenest city. Travellers taking cheap flights to Sheffield will discover a leafy town, with more trees per person than any other city in Europe spread across its 78 public parks, 10 public gardens, more than 170 woodlands and more than 134 square kilometres of national park land. In fact, it has been estimated that 61 percent of the city is green space. With more than a third of Sheffield overlapping the stunning Peak District National Park, the city is an excellent destination for hikers and nature lovers.
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With a temperate climate typical of England, the summer months of July and August are usually the warmest and driest and the winter months of December, January and February the coldest and wettest, although rain may occur throughout the year.
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Peak Season:
Sheffield sees most tourism in the summer months, when weather is most likely to be warmest and driest and the majority of outdoor events such as festivals take place.
Off Season:
Tourism is usually lowest in Sheffield during the winter months, when the weather is coldest and there is the greatest likelihood of rain.
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Much work has been undertaken in Sheffield’s city centre to aid pedestrian access, and many sites are reachable on foot without difficulty.
However, the city is also served by a tram network named Supertram, operated by the Stagecoach company which offers routes from the city centre toward the city’s north-eastern, north-western and south-eastern margins.
The city also has many public bus routes, run by the First and Stagecoach companies, as well as suburban and intercity rail services from Sheffield station.
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- Millennium Galleries is Sheffield’s largest art gallery. Housed in a stunning and relatively new building (opened in 2001 as part of the Heart of the City project), the gallery is dedicated to visual arts, craft and design. Its Special Exhibition Gallery hosts touring exhibitions from other galleries such as the Tate Gallery, the Metalwork Gallery showcases the city’s metalwork industries, the Craft and Design Gallery contains works of past and present designers and craftspeople, and the Ruskin Gallery holds the collection of John Ruskin’s Guild of St George.
- The Peace Gardens, another new addition to the city courtesy of Heart of the City, is a charming public square in front of Sheffield Town Hall. It has received many awards, including the Royal Town Planning Institute Award and the Royal Institute of British Architects Award, and its central Goodwin Fountain, dedicated to local figures Sir Stuart and Lady Goodwin, was once named Fountain of the Year. The gardens’ fountains and cascades represent molten steel – symbolically important to this steelworkers’ city – as well as Sheffield’s rivers.
- Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, situated in the south of Sheffield, is the a former steel-working site on the River Sheaf – the Abbeydale Works - that has been preserved as an industrial museum. The site is a scheduled ancient monument, with the steelworks Grade I listed buildings and the counting house, workers’ cottages and manager’s house Grade II* listed. Among relics of Sheffield’s industrial past, visitors can find waterwheels, a grinding hull, tilt hammers and the only remaining intact crucible steel furnace in the world.
- Sheffield Botanical Gardens, located off Ecclesall Road, were designed by celebrated horticulturalist Robert Marnock and opened in 1836. The gardens contain over 5,000 species of plant from around the globe spread over fifteen separate garden areas. The gardens recently underwent extensive restoration, completed in 2005, with the aim of recapturing its late 19th century appearance and condition.
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