Designs for city living
Mike Browell is a landscape architect and principal of Weddle Landscape Design, known locally for the landscape architectural design of the Winter Garden.
His wife Linda works as a nurse manager for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust and their son Christopher is finishing medical school in Newcastle. An energetic yellow Labrador completes the family.
He said; "I came to Sheffield to study landscape architecture 35 years ago and fell in love with the city and its landscape. I am passionate about natural landscape and very 'hands-on' when it comes to experiencing the outdoors in a variety of pursuits.
"My main leisure activities are climbing, cycling and running, so having the Peak District National Park within the city boundaries is a compelling reason to live here. There isn't a better playground in the world and I can reach it within 10 minutes of leaving work.
"I have always lived within a mile of Hunters Bar and within a mile of my place of work. These measurements are very important to me. I believe strongly in a good work/leisure balance, so I need to be able to change from one to the other without wasted travelling time."
Hunters Bar
This is my gateway to the Peak District, where Sheffield begins the steady climb to the moors. Hunters Bar is the beginning of many journeys, where over the years I have waited for buses to take me climbing, cycled the long hill to the Fox House (25 minutes is the target) or run up through the parks to reach the moors at Ringinglow.
For tree-lovers there is a magnificent weeping beech at the entrance to Endcliffe Park.
Dark Peak Fell Runners
Sheffield is home to the largest fell running club in Britain I am proud to belong to this loose association of sometimes anarchistic, often eccentric and always fully-committed athletes. A rite of passage for many members is the 24-hour Lake District mountain run, taking in 42 summits and 70 miles, named the Bob Graham Round, and I didn't dare aspire to join Dark Peak until I had that under my studs.
You may see us out on the moors on a winter's night, a bobbing stream of headtorches out in the wilderness, or at a summer's evening fell race in one of the Peak District villages, racing up and down craggy hills, fording streams, wading through bogs and loving every minute of it. Our brown club vests are the colour of rich Dark Peak peat, with bands of gold and purple representing sunshine over flowering heather.
Climbing Walls
Sheffield is the world capital of rock climbing and has a higher concentration of climbers than any other city, yet, when I arrived, there were no modern climbing walls.
Bringing rock climbing indoors within the inner cities has been a major revolution of the past 30 years. It has made a traditionally countryside activity accessible to all and created a new safe sport which appeals to youth. I played a part in creating Sheffield's first modern climbing wall on the Polytechnic's Collegiate site. Now the city has six.
My favourites are the awesome Foundry and the cosy Edge. It is thrilling to see enthusiasts enjoying the natural movement and sensations of climbing. The buzz is electric.
The Eastern Edges
Sheffield's west boundary follows the gritstone crags of the Derwent edges. I have spent a good part of my life exploring this boundary, both on and off the crags, so I know it like the back of my hand. I always take visitors to see climbers on the imposing Stanage Edge, then to Surprise View to discover the hidden millstones stacked below. These crags are world famous and rock climbers from every country gravitate to try the short but perfectly-packaged climbs.
Burbage Valley
If I had to choose my Desert Island (heaven?), it would be the beautifully-compact Burbage Valley, its forbidding tors of gritstone isolated from the plateau of Burbage Moor, Higger Tor with its leaning block, Mother Cap, a jumble of tottering boulders, and Carl Wark's massive Iron Age man-made rock walls.
I have at least ten favourite five-mile circuits around Burbage which take in carved troughs, remote stone markers, ancient bridges and packhorse trails. Burbage has a never-ending change of colour and mood – the first bright green shoots of bracken piercing the snow-flattened brown carpet, the purple heather, the chest-high bracken finally turning golden and the rich, dark, boggy peat.
Winter Garden
I'm proud to have played a part in creating this gorgeous indoor garden and it is always a delight to stroll through and see people smiling. That's the power of plants – they delight, inspire and educate. When people ask what I do, I can point to the Winter Garden; it has become a much-loved focal point and an icon for Sheffield.
Nether Edge
Its magnificent combination of topography and trees make it unique and it has many inspirational views. My favourites include the dramatic wooded escarpment of Brincliffe Edge seen from Chesterfield Road, the streets of Kenwood which originate from a more enlightened past when people planted large trees – in one case in the middle of the road – the view down Psalter Lane when the pale green leaves of the lime trees appear in spring, the terraced streets of Hunter House Road seen from Brocco Bank and the mysterious historic alleys of Frog and Toad Walk.
Curries
There was a time when I had visited all the curry houses in the city but now there are so many choices. If I was to select one it might become too popular, so I'll just say that I've rarely been disappointed by a curry house to the east of the Wicker Arches.
My garden
As you would expect from a landscape architect, I love my own garden best of all. It's quite large and dates from 1850, traditional Victorian in front but surprisingly Mediterranean behind. It's a test-bed for exotic palms and plants which are only just hardy in Sheffield. Many of the plants also appear in Sheffield Winter Garden. My garden maintenance regime takes about 30 minutes a week in summer, and much less in winter.
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -4 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
