Joan Rivers to open Sheffield Doc/Fest!

Sheffield Doc/Fest has announced today that it will open with the UK premiere of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, attended by Joan Rivers and award-winning filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg.

This is exciting stuff and is the UK premiere! I love Joan Rivers and I love Doc/Fest. I can’t wait to see this, here’s the trailer: http://www.joanriversapieceofwork.com/

Apparently Joan will be at all of the screenings and events for the duration of the festival (3-7 November). Tickets go on sale 4th October – I’ll definitely be in the queue!

Spa 1877...a bank holiday treat!

Spa 1877, Victoria Street, Sheffield

I spent part of bank holiday back home in Manchester visiting my parents and on Sunday I drove back for some much needed spa time with my two sisters. We headed to Spa 1877, just off West Street, for three hours of catching up and relaxation!

We paid our £25 each on arrival and headed through to collect a basket each that contained a pair of crocs, dressing gown and towel. From here it isn’t really clear what the drill is….,good job I’d been before. We headed up to get changed, whacked on the crocs and dressing gowns and left everything behind in our lockers.

The first room you come to is the relaxation room. In here, everyone lazes around in their dressing gowns, reading papers and books and generally just chilling out and chatting. Various rooms lead off where people can opt to have additional treatments.

The staff are really friendly and go round offering you hot drinks, we all opted for a hot chocolate before we went into the spa area. Three hours is plenty of time so there’s no rush to make your way into the spa area when you first arrive.
Inside the spa area you will find an aromasteam room (this room smells like berries), a steam room, a sauna, an ice cave and a plunge pool. The main hammam area is a nice temperature so if you want to just lie down and have a snooze in your dressing gown then it’s the perfect temperature.

We started of with a quick shower before heading into the aromasteam room, I love this room as it smells like berries. We stayed in there for about 10 minutes before heading into the ice cave. This is basically a cooler room where crushed ice falls out from the corner into a big bowl. You then rub this all over your skin to exfoliate and cool you down. This takes some getting used to but you need it after coming out from one of the hot rooms.

Next we headed into the steam room which is much larger then the other rooms and managed to put in a good innings before heading to the plunge pool. Being the most daring of the three of us I went first…full body I promised them. I managed to do it but was out quicker then I was in. It makes your legs go all tingly but you feel great afterwards. We then headed into the sauna for a bit and back out for a shower before putting our dressing gowns back on and heading into the relaxation area for another drink.

In addition to the hot drinks on offer, you can help yourself to water, orange juice, apple juice and fresh fruit whilst you chill out in the relaxation area. We relaxed some more before heading back into the spa area and doing it all over again….all in all we went round three times.

As I said, there is no rush to get it all done and three hours is plenty of time for you to chill out and enjoy it all. I would definitely recommend going if you haven’t before and for £25 I think it is not bad at all!

The only down side I’d say would be that it doesn’t have a swimming pool – not a complete drawback but I think this would make it a little bit more wholesome.

My sister is getting married in April so we enquired whether you can rent out the whole place for a private do and it turns out you can…looks like we may be able to build in a little relaxation time into a busy hen weekend after all!

Here is the website if you want more info: http://www.spa1877.com/

My first review…Appy Feet at Meadowhall

Feeling the pressure to do my first ever review…I thought I’d aim to do something a little bit different…which led me to Appy Feet at Meadowhall. I’ve been hearing a lot recently from friends and magazines about the so called ‘fish foot spa’ that is taking the UK by storm and I’m pleased to hear one of the UK’s first opened in our very own Meadowhall. It’s been open a few months now so I decided to pop down after work on Monday night and give it all a go.


I think of myself as a bit of a Meadowhall expert…I know where every shop is...well I thought I did until I realised I hadn’t actually seen Appy Feet before. A little confused that I hadn’t come across it bearing in mind the number of times I’ve been to the centre in the last few months, I started to wonder why I was missing it. After a quick glance at the map of the centre and feeling slightly embarrassed to look like a Sheffield tourist I found my way to Appy Feet on the ground floor round the corner from Marks & Spencers. It is a little hidden away which explains why I’ve never come across it….I would have never of walked down that nook of the centre unless I’d parked at the doors next to it….and let’s be honest…we all have our favourite car park at Meadowhall and never park anywhere else when we visit (unless we go to the cinema of course).

Turns out it costs just £10 for 15 minutes of feet nibbling by the gara rufa fish; absolute bargain considering the cost of a good pedicure these days. I paid my £10, signed all the necessary forms and got going.

Firstly I was asked to put my feet in a regular foot spa for a few minutes to remove any bits. I was then told I was ready to put my feet into the tank. With 15 minutes on the stop watch I decided to go against my instincts and go full submersion with my feet. Now, I’m not really a fan of fish; you know how it is when you’re swimming in the sea or snorkelling (like you do) and you see a fish? Well I’m one of those people who swim in the opposite direction to get away from them so this was quite an experience.

It’s like the fish sensed my feet were coming and immediately attached themselves and really started to go for it. Although at first I squealed a little I soon got used to the strange sensation which I can only describe as bubbles popping on your feet. I found it more relaxing to not look at the fish as they were devouring my feet and I was surprised by the variety of people having the treatment…men and women of all ages. Appy Feet have done a really good job to make the treatment accessible to everyone, I started to think at how the clientele and volume of people coming through the doors would be different if the price was higher and the décor more sophisticated. I think for Sheffield they have got the balance just right; people are happy to come in and give it a go for a tenner and men aren’t dissuaded either by the spa looking too girly. I even think I’ll bring my Dad next time he’s in Sheffield.

With my stop watch bleeping I’m soon informed my time is up so I slowly take my feet out, managing to shake off any stragglers and dry them on my Appy Feet towel. They do feel a lot softer and I can definitely see an immediate difference. After putting my socks and shoes back on and walking to my car it feels like my feet are extra sensitive and soft against my socks, in a good way of course. I am definitely impressed with my fish foot spa experience and would recommend you to give it a go. I’ll definitely be going back and I plan to take friends and family too. Will the effects last and my feet stay this soft? Well, I’m not sure yet but I’ll keep you updated.

Welcome to My Life in Sheffield

Hello and welcome to My Life in Sheffield! After thinking about it for some time I have finally set up a blog about my life in the Steel City. Originally from Manchester, I fell in love with Sheffield from a young age after my eldest sister came here to University. I followed in her footsteps and moved her to study at the University of Sheffield. I now work in Sheffield full-time and live with my boyfriend.


So a bit about me…well, where to start….? A few words that I’d used to describe me include; energetic, fun loving, honest, opinionated, confident, thoughtful and kind.

Although I am aware of other blogs about Sheffield that already exist (which for the record, I love to read), I felt I wanted to have my say about my life in Sheffield and all things happening in the famous Steel City! To me, Sheffield is still somewhat of a hidden gem and until you experience life here you don’t realise just how fantastic it is. So, for those of you that don’t know, or for those of you that are already from Sheffield and want to read about my take on what’s going on then stay tuned….

After living here for nearly 5 years I know Sheffield better then my home town so I am ready to give you my views on what’s hot, what’s not and what’s new, whether it be restaurants, cafes, shops, concerts, festivals, events, activities, gym classes….you name it. If you want to request a review then hey, drop me an email at mylifeinsheffield@hotmail.co.uk. I’ll try anything once (within reason) and if you’ve got something you want me to tell the people of Sheffield about then let me know!

I hope you enjoy reading about my life in Sheffield….over and out….for now anyway x