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| Sheffied, a small industrial city in the North of England, might not be a top tourist destination (if it sounds familiar, it's the city where The Full Monty is set) but it's where my best friend Clare lives, so we went. Though definitely not the thriving cultural center London is, we had a great time, including a lovely outing to Chatsworth, a former manor house in the countryside, for Clare's birthday. |
| The girls, minus Vicky, who had to go to a wedding that weekend. |
| Clare and I pose in the largest city center wintergarden in the world. It's not the largest wintergarden in the world, but it's the largest one in a city center. Beat that London! |
| Clare said she thinks of me every time she walks by this building. Maybe I should have asked for some discounts. |
| First stop, a lovely picnic with Clare's friends from Manchester on the banks of a peaceful river. It would have been slightly lovlier if I hadn't been incapacitated by hay fever, or if there was a tad less sheep poop to avoid in the grass, but nothing's perfect. |
| Posing atop a giant rock garden on the house grounds. Again, being able to build things like this, and the fountain below, on your property must be the best thing about being rich. And apparently the Duke only used one landscape designer. That guy is the luckiest landscape designer ever. |
| Clare and I playing in the giant fountain as her friend Kieran pretends he doesn't know us. |
| Dr. Seuss trees on the grounds. |
| A view down the fountain towards the manor house. |
| Lord and Lady Powerthighs, all smiles on a beautiful day in the English countryside. |