Thirlmere Lake Map — Watercolour Contour Poster

£129.99 GBP

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Size 50x70cm 45x60cm 30x40cm

Frame Black White Natural

Three sizes
Framed, ready to hang
Made to order

Stretching nearly 5.8 kilometres along its valley floor, Thirlmere is held tightly between the steep flanks of Helvellyn and the rugged heights of Armboth Fell. Sitting 178 metres above sea level, its long waters are shadowed by dramatic peaks, from Raven Crag down to High Seat and Catstycam.

The lake forms a striking, elongated silhouette on the sheet, narrowing sharply at the waist. It is painted in a deep blue watercolour wash that settles into darker, rich edges at the shoreline. Fine grey contour lines map the true topography, drawn from surveyed data to crowd closely on steep fells and open out across gentler slopes.

Arriving framed and ready to hang, this piece brings a graphic presence to a stairwell or study. A natural wood frame warms the crisp white paper beautifully. It looks superb alone, or hung alongside others in the series in twos or threes.

Sizes

30 × 40 cm — 12 × 16 in

45 × 60 cm — 18 × 24 in

50 × 70 cm — 20 × 28 in

Each size is the printed sheet itself; the 20 mm moulding sits outside it. There is no mount — the sheet runs to the frame, so the whole map is on show.

Paper, frame and glazing

Printed on 200 gsm enhanced matte fine-art paper — no gloss, no reflections, and ink that sits in the sheet rather than on it, so the watercolour reads as watercolour.

Framed in a 20 mm wide, 24 mm deep solid wood moulding — black, white or natural oak.

Glazed with shatterproof acrylic rather than glass, so a large sheet arrives intact.

MDF backing board with hanging fixtures already fitted.

How the map is drawn

The shoreline is the surveyed shoreline of the lake, and the contour lines are the real contours of the ground around it, measured by airborne laser survey. The lake is turned to stand on its long axis so it fills the sheet, then finished in watercolour: a deep blue wash for the water, fine grey ink for the contours, on a paper ground.

Nothing is added — no roads, no labels, no compass. If you know the lake, you will know it at once.

Delivery and returns

Every poster is printed and framed to order, at the production facility closest to your delivery address.

Framed pieces are made and dispatched within 5–10 working days. UK delivery normally takes up to five working days after dispatch; international orders can take up to 28 days.

Full detail is in our shipping policy and refund policy.

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Thirlmere map poster close-up: the watercolour lake and the pen-drawn contour lines

Drawn from the lake itself

This is not an impression of the lake. It is the lake: its surveyed shoreline, and the real shape of the fells that hold it, painted by hand.

The true shoreline

Every bay, spit and island is where it really is. The outline is taken from the surveyed shoreline, not sketched from memory.

Real contours

The lines are the actual contours of the ground, measured by airborne laser survey. Where they crowd together, the fell is steep. Where they open out, the valley floor is flat.

Finished in watercolour

The water is a deep blue wash with the darker edge a wash leaves as it dries; the contours are drawn in fine grey ink on a paper ground. Printed on 200gsm matte fine-art paper so it looks like paper, not a photograph of one.