SHEFFIELD. A Bit Bananas.

The classical elegance of the Conservatory in the sunshine.

When you think of bananas I don’t suppose the steel city of Sheffield is the first place that comes to mind. However if you were to make your way up to the Botanic Gardens and into the elegant conservatory you would find them growing there.

The gardens date from the 1830’s or thereabouts and are a green breathing space on a hill above the city centre sitting between Eccleshall Road and Clarkehouse Road. They originate from the age of the gentleman explorer and enthusiast, when any town or city worth it’s salt wanted to promote the arts and sciences as a counterbalance to the approaching rush of the Industrial Revolution.

A banana growing under the Sheffield sunshine. A member of the herbaceous Musa family.

The sun had decided to grace Sheffield with balmy breezes and warm weather so as well as the exotic plants the lawns were also dotted with no less exotic examples of the human race at leisure, the area being popular with Sheffield’s student population.

On a side note, any regular readers of this blog, I thank you if you are, will know that cake and coffee feature largely in these entries and in my waistline. The stretch of Eccleshall Road by the Botanic Gardens has a fair selection of places to eat.

Just saying…….