@lauraparker
Countryside writer, sheep keeper, drystone wall lover. Features for Country Life mag on the fun and the fascinating. Lives in Cotswolds, from Scottish Borders. Late of ChipLitFest, which is now sadly an ex-LitFest.
Some thoughts on why I think it's important to remember that the natural and physical world provide joy and curiosity, even though global geopolitics is very mean and horrible right now. Appreciating the world around us gives us joy & agency. Don't forget the bad, but hold on to the good too.
Oh. Well I made it out! And any number of imagined badly-ending adventures could be fuel for that short story...
It would be a good place to disappear.
True!
No! There was a vase of plastic flowers in one window which seemed especially off-putting.
Exactly! Apart from the a) - wasn't going to be doing that. Mulling the b) though!
You're walking alone on Bodmin Moor when this house looms out of the mist. Do you a) excitedly explore the interior. b) start planning gothic novel c) do a hasty survey of the field walls you've come to see and retreat.
This fellow's a bit fed up of being chin deep in water. Still, only been 4,000 years so far. Emblance Downs stone circle on Bodmin.
At last, the readable podcast! Love being able to see the transcript. Fun choices, too.
Are you doing a 'stand-up' presentation or being interviewed, Kristie?
Great credo. I've discovered this in the past year.
I swear these lilac buds weren't there yesterday. #spring?
A painting of the surrender of French troops at Fishguard, date unknown. Shows a beach, surrounded by hills, with troops massed on and around it
Today is the 229th anniversary of the last time Britain was invaded by a hostile foreign power. What’s that? Something about 1066? Ah, yes – same source of invasion (those damned, beastly French), but different outcome. This was the last time foreign troops *landed* on British shores... 🧵
An orange background with the Poetry Society logo in black at the bottom. Text in black reads "Today in a horse landscape horses steam in the lee of thorn hedges on soaking fields. Horses waltz on iron poles in dank fairgrounds. A girl in jodphurs on Sand Bay leads her pony over and over jumps made of driftwood and traffic cones. 'The Horse Landscape', Helen Dunmore, runner-up in the 1985 National Poetry Competition
Kung Hei Fat Choi! Happy Lunar New Year! In celebration of the year of the horse, here are two horsey poems...
Helen Dunmore's ‘The Horse Landscape’ was runner up in the 1985 National Poetry Competition poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/the-horse-landscape/
I'm from the Borders, and my writing work-in-progress features Stobo, so I heard lots of chimes in your starting piece! Have a great journey.
This journey will be very much worth following. 👇
Just too versatile
D'you know, I hadn't realised it was a novel. Sounds great. *Adds to fiction tbr*.
📚 lovers ❤️ following @janeaustenlit.bsky.social don't miss our wonderful #Cotswold evening in May with Austen expert Paula Byrne #booksky TICKETS on line now www.campdenmayfestivals.co.uk/literature/e...
Or suggest a further qualification for Nic
I expect @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social could make an anagram out of that.
Congrats! Do you get to put initials after your name?
Sounds amazing Mark - you are tireless!
Sounds great, Mark - walks for all abilities? ie the not so fit?
Great news, in all ways! Congratulations on the shortlisting. Go, go Miss White (and Mrs C)
1777: Very harsh day. The fieldfares now feed on sloes, which abound on the hedges. 'Til now I never observed that any birds touched the sloes.
Intriguing regeneration story.
Look at this otter enjoying his best life :)
This is a lovely squelchy ramble with some wonderful, companionable storytelling. Best of radio, do listen!
#haiku #haikusaturday
what if I fall
in the woods
and no one hears me
