I will be in Sheffield for the McCartney concert April 6&7. It's my first trip to England, will be in Sheffield Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. Are there any particular sites to see, can I make it to Liverpool and back Sunday (expand the Beatle thing), any suggestions appreciated?

Poor you! Sheffield is not the best introduction to England or Britain! It is industrial drabness.<BR>Liverpool can be done, but unless you hire a car then it would involve quite a few train changes. <BR>You could go local and tour Yorkshire by car. My suggestion is to hire a car for one day and go to York.<BR>By the way, enjoy McCartney. I saw him in 1989 and it was amazing to see this man actually sing all those songs that you had heard so many times.

Sheffield has very few redeeming features. Ex steel city, has fallen on hard time. The movie the Full Monty was filmed there. There is a reasonably good local museum at Kelham Island if you are stuck in Sheffield with nothing to do (http://www.simt.co.uk/kel1/index.htm). If you need a place to stay, I can recommend the Holiday Inn in the city centre, which was I believe part of the old railway station. <BR><BR>Liverpool is a fair distance away and is also pretty miserable, but if you are a Macca fan, well I guess that's a place of pilgrimage.<BR><BR>In terms of things to see reasonably near Sheffield, Chatsworth House, the splendid residence of the Duke of Devonshire, is in the countryside in Derbyshire to the south. Further information at <BR>http://www.chatsworth-house.co.uk/

There is a direct train link from Sheffield to Liverpool by Central Trains. Leaves Sundays roughly hourly and takes around 1 3/4 hours. First train around 10.30 am and last return around 9.30 pm. Check at www.centraltrains.co.uk<BR>Fare info at www.thetrainline.com

Industrial drabness maybe in parts but Sheffield also has the most parks out of any city in the UK. If you are a big Beatles fan you can certainly get to Liverpool and back on the Sunday the information on there being a direct train is quite correct. From the train you will also get to see a bit of the Peak District countryside. <BR>As for the afternoon in Sheffield it depends on what you are interested in. In the town centre there is an area called Tudor Square which has two theatres (The Crucible and Lyceum) which may have a matinee you would like to see (I think the website is www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk. <BR>Across the square there is the new Winter Gardens (large glass house)and attached to that the Millenium Galleries which is currently showing a Constable exhibition in one of the galleries. Also close is the Town Hall and the new Peace Gardens which have some nice fountains and things.<BR>If you fancy a stroll a short bus ride out of the centre you could go the Botanical Gardens which have some wonderful Victorian Glasshouses and interesting bits and pieces like a petrified tree and a Victorian bear pit. There is also a Cafe on site.<BR>Slightly further out of town but still accessible by bus is the Ladybower reservoir where the Dambusters trained in WWII. That is very pretty and there are a coouple of nice pubs as well.<BR>Talking of pubs there are lots of very good ones in Sheffield particularly if you are interested in trying some real ale, The Devonshire Cat, The Fat Cat (next to Kelham Island Museum mentioned previously) amognst others.<BR>Any questions just ask -Sheffield is not as bad as the other posters are making out honestly. Best hotel is the Hotel Bristol.