Nicola Chester
@nicolawriting.bsky.social
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
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
Pinned
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
Very excited to hear news of a new book, #SaidtheDead from Doireann Ni Ghriofa @faberbooks.bsky.social Her book, A Ghost in the Throat was influential in a breakthrough in writing mine … I loved it. www.faber.co.uk/journal/fabe...
November 25, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Very excited to hear news of a new book, #SaidtheDead from Doireann Ni Ghriofa @faberbooks.bsky.social Her book, A Ghost in the Throat was influential in a breakthrough in writing mine … I loved it. www.faber.co.uk/journal/fabe...
Reposted by Nicola Chester
Beautiful piece about a group of young people who ignored the cynics, critics and gatekeepers and just cracked on restoring nature, bringing as many people as they could along for the ride.
"Action, access and agency".
You want a rural revival? This is it.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
"Action, access and agency".
You want a rural revival? This is it.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘It fully changed my life!’ How young rewilders transformed a farm – and began a movement
At Maple Farm, nature is returning in droves: nightingales, grass snakes, slowworms, bats and insects. All due to the vision of a group determined to accelerate its recovery
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Beautiful piece about a group of young people who ignored the cynics, critics and gatekeepers and just cracked on restoring nature, bringing as many people as they could along for the ride.
"Action, access and agency".
You want a rural revival? This is it.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
"Action, access and agency".
You want a rural revival? This is it.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Perhaps a Christmas book? The best nature writing & storytelling I’ve done so far: a haunting of barn owls, how we lost the birds & why we didn’t have to, proper winters & astonishing encounters (historical, modern, aural) with the northern lights. #GhostsoftheFarm Available for articles! #booksky
November 25, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Perhaps a Christmas book? The best nature writing & storytelling I’ve done so far: a haunting of barn owls, how we lost the birds & why we didn’t have to, proper winters & astonishing encounters (historical, modern, aural) with the northern lights. #GhostsoftheFarm Available for articles! #booksky
Wonderful to return to #Highclere Castle (we used to work & live on the estate) & be a guest on Lady Carnarvon’s Book Club with #GhostsoftheFarm. I met #DaughtersofBritain earlier who had the same sunflower yellow Fordson tractor as Doris & Julia’s Racing Lizzie! @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social 1/2
November 24, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Wonderful to return to #Highclere Castle (we used to work & live on the estate) & be a guest on Lady Carnarvon’s Book Club with #GhostsoftheFarm. I met #DaughtersofBritain earlier who had the same sunflower yellow Fordson tractor as Doris & Julia’s Racing Lizzie! @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social 1/2
Really looking forward to @orfc.bsky.social! So many exciting talks, panels & people in such a gorgeous place. Very excited to say I’ll be chatting #GhostsoftheFarm with @benraskin.bsky.social! And later, all things #WildService …
November 21, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Really looking forward to @orfc.bsky.social! So many exciting talks, panels & people in such a gorgeous place. Very excited to say I’ll be chatting #GhostsoftheFarm with @benraskin.bsky.social! And later, all things #WildService …
Dear young & lively, keen-to-do-stuff doggo, I am sorry I am currently rubbish.
[Love how she keeps bringing me suggestions on stuff we can still do together.]
[Love how she keeps bringing me suggestions on stuff we can still do together.]
November 20, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Dear young & lively, keen-to-do-stuff doggo, I am sorry I am currently rubbish.
[Love how she keeps bringing me suggestions on stuff we can still do together.]
[Love how she keeps bringing me suggestions on stuff we can still do together.]
The bedwine - betwine, betwined, between - coming into its smoky, wreathing, tiny gas lamp light, right now ..
For all wild clematis lovers including @nicolawriting.bsky.social @nicwilson.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 1:54 PM
The bedwine - betwine, betwined, between - coming into its smoky, wreathing, tiny gas lamp light, right now ..
Last leaves hanging on like little birds.
November 19, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Last leaves hanging on like little birds.
Actual snow falling on the most western edge of Berkshire, if very fatly, wetly.
November 19, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Actual snow falling on the most western edge of Berkshire, if very fatly, wetly.
God how this changed me. In fact, no, made me realise there were ‘things’ out there - music, art, books - that spoke to me, even if they spoke to no one else I knew… & that was ok, & a good thing.
Four decades back a major label released a debut album that sounded like almost nothing on earth while still sounding incredibly familiar. Our man in San Francisco Ned Raggett takes stock of it all
Happy Birthday to the JAMC's Psychocandy, which turns 40 today!
buff.ly/nflmjN6
Happy Birthday to the JAMC's Psychocandy, which turns 40 today!
buff.ly/nflmjN6
November 18, 2025 at 6:20 PM
God how this changed me. In fact, no, made me realise there were ‘things’ out there - music, art, books - that spoke to me, even if they spoke to no one else I knew… & that was ok, & a good thing.
Reposted by Nicola Chester
Lifelong renting in the UK is too often a trauma that follows you around: gutted to have passed it on to our kids (even though we’re out of it for now, in a lovely family home.) The bitter disputes & pettiness, conditions, the what you have to do to get a place, is a national disgrace. Rant. Sorry.
November 17, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Lifelong renting in the UK is too often a trauma that follows you around: gutted to have passed it on to our kids (even though we’re out of it for now, in a lovely family home.) The bitter disputes & pettiness, conditions, the what you have to do to get a place, is a national disgrace. Rant. Sorry.
Reposted by Nicola Chester
Heartfelt and on the nail. We can do better: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Greens back plan to 'abolish' private landlords - BBC News
A motion passed at its party conference called for the party "to seek the effective abolition of private landlordism" while backing building more council houses.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Heartfelt and on the nail. We can do better: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Lifelong renting in the UK is too often a trauma that follows you around: gutted to have passed it on to our kids (even though we’re out of it for now, in a lovely family home.) The bitter disputes & pettiness, conditions, the what you have to do to get a place, is a national disgrace. Rant. Sorry.
November 17, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Lifelong renting in the UK is too often a trauma that follows you around: gutted to have passed it on to our kids (even though we’re out of it for now, in a lovely family home.) The bitter disputes & pettiness, conditions, the what you have to do to get a place, is a national disgrace. Rant. Sorry.
Reposted by Nicola Chester
Great news obviously, but surely this is a Doctor Who episode? The Sausages of Tremedioth.
British and Australian chemists have discovered a powerful new antibiotic called pre-methylenomycin C lactone, hiding in a well-known soil bacterium. This molecule kills drug-resistant bacteria without triggering resistance. buff.ly/YlXaONo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Scientists find hidden antibiotic 100x stronger against deadly superbugs
A team of scientists discovered a hidden antibiotic 100 times stronger than existing drugs against deadly superbugs like MRSA. The molecule had been overlooked for decades in a familiar bacterium. It…
buff.ly
November 16, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Great news obviously, but surely this is a Doctor Who episode? The Sausages of Tremedioth.
Reposted by Nicola Chester
How do we, as a society, let companies get away with this behaviour?
I am bewildered that this labour of Sisyphus is being carried out by volunteers, while Southern Water, which has admitted responsibility for the catastrophe, is doing nothing to remediate it.
‘We feel we’re fighting a losing battle’: the race to remove millions of plastic beads from Camber Sands
A huge cleanup effort has seen volunteers working to remove beads by hand and machine. They can only wait and see the extent of damage to wildlife and dune habitat
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:50 AM
How do we, as a society, let companies get away with this behaviour?
Reposted by Nicola Chester
RIP Rachel Cooke, fellow Puffin Club member and evangelist of All the Devils Are Here, formidable critic and true believer in the power and importance of the good stuff, in whatever form it takes. I’m gutted we won’t get to talk about books again. My condolences to Rachel’s friends and family. x
We are very sad to learn of the death of our friend Rachel Cooke. In addition to being a wonderful writer and a superb critic, she loved books to her core. She kept us on our toes and it was a joy and a privilege to spend time with her, on and off the show. RIP. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Remembering Rachel Cooke | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 10:56 PM
RIP Rachel Cooke, fellow Puffin Club member and evangelist of All the Devils Are Here, formidable critic and true believer in the power and importance of the good stuff, in whatever form it takes. I’m gutted we won’t get to talk about books again. My condolences to Rachel’s friends and family. x
On my Christmas list every year …
we don't have a Christmas advert but we *do* have an online shop with mugs, t-shirts and more that will dramatically heighten the rural representation within your personal wardrobe and kitchen cupboards
explore: merl-shop.co.uk
explore: merl-shop.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 3:28 PM
On my Christmas list every year …
Reposted by Nicola Chester
wild sea | wild winds
old stones
old stones
November 14, 2025 at 12:06 PM
wild sea | wild winds
old stones
old stones
‘Nostalgia is a warping gravity …’
Just for any academics, let me be clear, Hookland is anti-nostalgic. It's an exploration and exorcism of my childhood, not a celebration of falsely remembered sunshine. Nostalgia is a warping gravity.
November 14, 2025 at 12:22 PM
‘Nostalgia is a warping gravity …’
I have plenty of nostalgia for the 70s. Holding Dad's big calloused, fire-bitten hand beside an oil drum brazier, on strike outside the Fire Station. The leccy going off after Black Beauty on TV. Frost ferns on Crittall windows. Christmas theatre trips from the Fire Brigade family hardship fund..
November 14, 2025 at 11:28 AM
I have plenty of nostalgia for the 70s. Holding Dad's big calloused, fire-bitten hand beside an oil drum brazier, on strike outside the Fire Station. The leccy going off after Black Beauty on TV. Frost ferns on Crittall windows. Christmas theatre trips from the Fire Brigade family hardship fund..
Reposted by Nicola Chester
14 November and welcome rain rattles the Epping Forest Woodfordish V-2 crater, finally starting to fill up. How many years until it becomes just another grassy hollow?
November 14, 2025 at 10:24 AM
14 November and welcome rain rattles the Epping Forest Woodfordish V-2 crater, finally starting to fill up. How many years until it becomes just another grassy hollow?
This is a really good read on a wonderful, fascinating artist & life ...
“Tall and slender in 19th-century dress, clasping her hands in front of her, she gazes out at us with two small black eyes. Above her, a ghostly owl swoops low, its wings spread as if in protection of the delicate, earthbound creature below it.” #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/t...
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/t...
Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious – exhibition and accompanying book
Something a little different from me today – another post in an occasional series of pieces about the art books I’ve accumulated over the past few years, mostly from gallery visits in London and th…
jacquiwine.wordpress.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:14 AM
This is a really good read on a wonderful, fascinating artist & life ...
Reposted by Nicola Chester
A worthwhile visit to Shaftesbury to hear @nicolawriting.bsky.social talk about her wonderful new book.
One among many big questions which came up was how do we reconnect with the farming community and the nature they harbour?
One among many big questions which came up was how do we reconnect with the farming community and the nature they harbour?
November 13, 2025 at 10:13 PM
A worthwhile visit to Shaftesbury to hear @nicolawriting.bsky.social talk about her wonderful new book.
One among many big questions which came up was how do we reconnect with the farming community and the nature they harbour?
One among many big questions which came up was how do we reconnect with the farming community and the nature they harbour?
Wonderful night in Shaftesbury with the lovely Karen & Amber @foldedorset.bsky.social, teasing apart the many threads of #GhostsoftheFarm Super crowd, & so good to see the legendary Sue Clifford & Angela King (of Common Ground fame) again, AND explore the new Folde Up on its 2nd day. It’s GORGEOUS!
November 14, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Wonderful night in Shaftesbury with the lovely Karen & Amber @foldedorset.bsky.social, teasing apart the many threads of #GhostsoftheFarm Super crowd, & so good to see the legendary Sue Clifford & Angela King (of Common Ground fame) again, AND explore the new Folde Up on its 2nd day. It’s GORGEOUS!
Look what came in the post today! Such a lovely crocheted comfort & pick me up @nicwilson.bsky.social & loving the feathered, winged details!
November 12, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Look what came in the post today! Such a lovely crocheted comfort & pick me up @nicwilson.bsky.social & loving the feathered, winged details!