It’s not so grim up North!

Britain's steelmaking capital, Sheffield, has won the 2005 gold medal for Europe's most floral city, beating off competitors from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Ireland and Slovenia in the final of the Entente Florale. The Yorkshire city was praised by judges at a ceremony in Budapest for the quality of its parks, wild green spaces and floral displays, and picked up an extra medal for its Green Fingers programme for disabled people. Sheffield has more than 2m urban trees, including figs which germinated from steelworkers' lunch leftovers by the river Don. (Nice)
Guardian Unlimited