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Nicola Chester

@nicolawriting.bsky.social

2.6K followers 940 following 2.1K posts

Nature. Writer. Reader. Rural. Guardian Country Diary, BBC Countryfile, RSPB. Award winning On Gallows Down. Ghosts of the Farm coming 30/11! Climate Fic Prize Judge. North Wessex Downs. https://nicolachester.com/ https://linktr.ee/nicolachesterwriting

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · Apr 15

Thrilled to announce my new book & reveal its stunning cover! Ghosts of the Farm - Two Women’s Journeys Through Time, Land & Community, published by the lovely @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social in the UK & US, on 30th September. Available to pre-order now. It’s a delicious, urgent kind of haunting 1/5

Suffragette purple & harvest orange cover: an aerial abstract of fields.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 7m

I’ll be off to watch a ploughing match next week - used to be quite the library talk at school, as several kids’ parents involved! This, from Rev Simon Lockett is just lovely! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Country diary: A wild morning at the ploughing match | Rev Simon Lockett

Wye Valley, Herefordshire: There’s a sense of deep history to events like this, where mesmerising horses and precision ploughing fall under the judges’ eye

www.theguardian.com

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 12m

Thank you for posting this again Richard - it is a sad & beautifully poignant piece. I remember the shock (& pain) of having to go back to work. Lucky to be in very sympathetic, supportive employment then & to take time off. If I’d have been working in school then, it would’ve been very different.

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 7h

He heee!

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 7h

Oh wonderful, thank you! Barraud’s book was a great reference - as well as @luketurner.bsky.social ‘s excellent introduction @littletollerbooks.bsky.social And yes, so very much effort has been forgotten.

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 8h

Plus a mention for @righttoroam.bsky.social!

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 8h

Grateful to @lauraparker.bsky.social for this wonderful full page review of #GhostsoftheFarm @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social in www.countrylife.co.uk 8 Oct. ‘The author is at her best when immersed in rural detail… Mrs Chester has found something truly haunting.’ #booksky

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 19h

Wonderful, thank you!

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 19h

Ah, ok thank you!

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 19h

Oh how wonderful! I’ve travelled so little, but this was epic! I got off to a good start!

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 19h

Absolutely!

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 20h

Fascinating & delightful stuff from @nicwilson.bsky.social!

Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · 1d

In today's @theguardian.com country diary, I spy a robber on my salvias...

#countrydiary #naturewriting

Country diary: Pirates of the patio have found their treasure | Nic Wilson

Hitchin, Hertfordshire: Some insects have evolved a long proboscis to reach the nectar of salvias and fuschias. Some take a cheeky shortcut

www.theguardian.com

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 20h

Fascinating stuff - love the Amethyst Lips!

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Reposted by Nicola Chester

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 1d

Place of work, home & mode of transport, 1988, 1989. High River & Bragg Creek, Alberta. #GhostsoftheFarm @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social Turning up treasures in a house move to the strains of ‘Four strong winds that blow lonely .. ‘

Scene of a cattle farm winter feed lot - high fenced corrals & pens. Green roof-shingled ‘American’ barn & farmhouse before Rocky Mountain foothills

Two western-style horse riders and a dog, heading to the bar & its hitching rail.

Little black quarter horse stallion ‘Bow’ or ‘Mr Bojangles’, tacked up in western saddle & bridle, with a ‘lariat’ rope on his saddle. Confession: never could handle the rope, though had many lessons!

Another view of the farm before winter & the clouds just before a Chinnook wind

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 1d

Grateful it’s there…

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 1d

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 1d

The lungo drom runs directly through Hookland …

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 1d

Wonderful stuff here (thank you @englishfolkfan.bsky.social for alerting me!) on the power, reasons & necessity of song for #Romani people. Such an absorbing listen. Song as far far more than a performative act…

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 1d

Wonderful wonderful! Thank you so much Lesley!

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 1d

Oh! Oh wow! Thanks for this Lesley!

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 1d

Oh my! So glad it’s exciting times! Courage, & looking forward! x

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 2d

Oof, yes, I can imagine that would have been very hard indeed. We're going less than a mile away, which seems so silly! We'll still have a view of the hill and the farm ...

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 2d

In the rather swish Absolutely Berkshire Magazine with #GhostsoftheFarm #booksky ‘We ask an awful lot from our farmers, in a way we don’t from other people’s jobs. But we need farming to work for all of us. Farmers, consumers, climate & wildlife are the 4 legs holding up the table we eat from.’

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you Ollie … silly really. We are very fortunate! And yes! Very much treasured tote (love that design) No one is allowed to actually use it! Admire only …

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 2d

It can .. but all is well really. Just so many memories!

Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you so much Mary x