Fire and Ice
When I travelled by train during the recent cold weather I was surprised to see that some smaller streams and rivers had partially frozen. I don’t ever remember seeing this before in the UK. Most people have heard of the Frost Fairs that were held on the River...
Water, Water Everywhere
Having spent much of last week talking to people whose homes have been damaged by flooding I have been reminded of the awful devastation caused by floods. Even the smallest trickle of water can destroy treasured personal possessions. Many people don’t...
River Deep, Mountain High
St Bega’s Church, Bassenthwaite Lake I was lucky enough to spend last week in the stunning Lake District and not surprisingly visits to rivers and lakes featured heavily during my trip. I mainly work on lowland rivers and I really enjoy this work but I have to...
Let Them Eat Cake
Having now attended four Be2camp events, three in person and one virtually, I thought it was about time for a blog post. Partly to explain the #be2camp hashtag that fills my twitter stream during the events but mainly to thank those who organise the events. For those...
Here Comes the Rain Again
Ever since the hosepipe ban came into force in the North West of England on 9 July I have heard a number of people question how there can be a hosepipe ban in place even when there have been floods in the region. To try to explain I’ll use an analogy –...
All About Poppies and Bluebells and things
When sorting through my books a few weeks ago I came across this rather battered little book by Althea. It has beautiful illustrations and is quite detailed considering that it is a book aimed at children. The age of the book is given away by the price – just...
In This Garden
This week I was lucky enough to visit the Chelsea Physic Garden for the first time in a number of years. I’d forgotten how much of an oasis this stunning garden is and I thought I’d share a few of my photos with you. The garden was founded in 1673 by the...
Blowing in the Wind
The alternative energy generator at last week’s low carbon farming event! I mentioned last week my rather chilly visit to an event run by Farm Carbon Cutting Toolkit The event was excellent and really thought provoking. In case you are wondering why I attended...
Life is a Rollercoaster
Yesterday I used Twitter to ask the question “what is your top presenting tip?” as I was finalising the slides for my talk at the River Restoration Conference so presenting skills were very much on my mind. I had some wonderful responses so I thought I...About Me
My name is Claire Thirlwall and I’m a chartered landscape architect. I run Thirlwall Associates, a landscape architecture consultancy based in Oxfordshire.
I work with architects, engineers, planners, project managers and other construction professionals. I also work as a sub-consultant to other landscape architects.