During the course of my life I have been to most places in my home country but there are still pockets to visit. One of them got knocked off the list recently – areas of South Yorkshire, near Sheffield.

I am not, usually, a lover of the big towns and cities. But I had been to Sheffield once, many years ago and then by train. This time I avoided the great South Yorkshire steel town – but that’s not to blame Sheffield. The avoidance of big places just makes me happier.

Our niece lives in what might be called an outer suburb of Sheffield called Chapeltown. That’s a place of manageable size for me. You can see the hills and the place is surrounded by woods. It might not be called ‘pretty’ but it’s a place I could live with. It has a busy railway line running through – linking…