After ten years in marketing at Hallam University, she retrained in landscape and worked on the restoration of the Botanical Gardens.

She now runs her own design practice in Bank Street in the city centre and is passionate about good design and the ways in which green spaces can contribute to well-being.

This year she helped to build one of the gardens at Chelsea Flower Show, an experience that she found "absolutely exhausting but a huge buzz".

She lives in Walkley with her son.

The Botanical Gardens

I first visited the Botanical Gardens back in the days when there were parrots and fish tanks in the pavilions and the bear pit was a slightly menacing place that you avoided.

Later on, I spent many hours here learning about plants when I was doing my landscape training, so it was a real privilege to get the opportunity to work on the restoration project.

The results are a testament to the enormous amount of hard work put in by the staff, the Friends, and many others who contributed to their renaissance in various ways.

My favourite part now is the rock and water garden, which has changed almost beyond recognition from a dark overgrown thicket into a beautiful water garden with stunning planting.

Flower meadows

The current popularity of meadow planting in landscape design is a very welcome trend, in my opinion, and they're springing up all over the place in Sheffield.

They're such a simple and cost-effective way to create an attractive landscape. Parson Cross has some of the best – great swathes of flowers in gorgeous colours that completely transform empty plots of land.

Weston Park Museum

The recent renovation is a superb job – Weston Park always had loads of interesting stuff and now it's displayed in a way that really makes you want to explore and find out more.

I particularly like the butterfly collection, tucked away in a bank of drawers at the back. Pulling open an unmarked drawer, you get hit by a totally unexpected riot of colour and pattern – a feast for the eyes.

Abbeydale Miniature Railway

When my son was small we would often spend a Sunday afternoon here, marvelling at these little feats of engineering and paying 10p a time to ride around the circuit.

The layout has been much extended now and has bridges, stations and level crossings.

The rides cost a little bit more but it's still great value and a brilliant family day out.

Paternoster lifts, University arts tower

Not the quickest way of getting to the top but much more fun than your average lift – the compartments are on a continuous loop that keeps moving, and you step in or out as they pass your floor.

Now if they could just add a slide for the journey back down…

Bank Street Arts

I've just moved my garden design business into a studio in this new arts centre in Bank Street in the city centre and it's already proving a really inspiring place to work.

We have a big light studio and share the building with a fantastically diverse range of artists and creative businesses.

Once it's fully up and running, the centre will also have a café and will open for exhibitions and events, so it looks set to become a key part of Sheffield's cultural scene.

Purple Cats community choir

There's something magical about the sound of unaccompanied voices singing in harmony that's guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Purple Cats is open to anyone – you don't have to be able to read music or do an audition.

It's friendly, fun, and a great stress-buster. And the posh biscuits at break time are pretty good too!

Spurn Head

My only regret with living in Sheffield is that it's about as far away from the sea as you can get.

I love the coast at any time of year but particularly in winter when it's wild and windswept.

Every now and then I go out to Spurn Head for a fix of sea, sky and dunes. It has a desolate and fragile beauty, stretching out into the mouth of the Humber in a long arc, constantly being reshaped by the sea and the weather and providing a stopping-off point for thousands of migrating birds.



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