Alison Brackenbury
@abrackenbury.bsky.social
Poet & broadcaster. New non-fiction prose book, 'Village', OUT!
Witches and wheelbarrows: women's history in my village, 1841-1971: cheerful survival!
To buy, search for
ALISON BRACKENBURY VILLAGE AMAZON
Witches and wheelbarrows: women's history in my village, 1841-1971: cheerful survival!
To buy, search for
ALISON BRACKENBURY VILLAGE AMAZON
Powerful edition of Radio 4's The Verb. Rare insights from doctor, soldier & poet Tim Hodgetts. Eloquent Russian anti-war writing introduced by Julia Nemirovskaya and Robert Chandler. Inspiring, and finally warmed by a wise love-letter to experience from @holliemcnish.bsky.social! LINK IN COMMENTS!
November 29, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Powerful edition of Radio 4's The Verb. Rare insights from doctor, soldier & poet Tim Hodgetts. Eloquent Russian anti-war writing introduced by Julia Nemirovskaya and Robert Chandler. Inspiring, and finally warmed by a wise love-letter to experience from @holliemcnish.bsky.social! LINK IN COMMENTS!
Sorry this is so early- please accept as a gift of light on a dark day! Normally, I'd never name companies,but this generous present is via Bloom and Wild . Their flowers last ages,they pack with NO PLASTIC (even food sachets!) & some items like this come in a box which comes through the letterbox!
November 29, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Sorry this is so early- please accept as a gift of light on a dark day! Normally, I'd never name companies,but this generous present is via Bloom and Wild . Their flowers last ages,they pack with NO PLASTIC (even food sachets!) & some items like this come in a box which comes through the letterbox!
The Sellotape ritual in this house, each Christmas, runs: 'Oh, we haven't any sellotape.' 'Must buy more sellotape!' 'Oh, we had a new reel all the time..' I hope I've circumvented it this time, by finding the new reel! But I fear that the sellotape is already plotting its revenge... Good luck!
November 28, 2025 at 6:20 PM
The Sellotape ritual in this house, each Christmas, runs: 'Oh, we haven't any sellotape.' 'Must buy more sellotape!' 'Oh, we had a new reel all the time..' I hope I've circumvented it this time, by finding the new reel! But I fear that the sellotape is already plotting its revenge... Good luck!
'Village is a glorious, generous compendium...
'Moving, funny and revelatory’ ...
Nicola Chester.
The Kindle edition of my non-fiction prose book, Village, also readable on phone or computer, is free this Sunday 30 Nov (from about 8 am) A Christmas read?
LINK IN COMMENTS!
'Moving, funny and revelatory’ ...
Nicola Chester.
The Kindle edition of my non-fiction prose book, Village, also readable on phone or computer, is free this Sunday 30 Nov (from about 8 am) A Christmas read?
LINK IN COMMENTS!
November 28, 2025 at 10:14 AM
'Village is a glorious, generous compendium...
'Moving, funny and revelatory’ ...
Nicola Chester.
The Kindle edition of my non-fiction prose book, Village, also readable on phone or computer, is free this Sunday 30 Nov (from about 8 am) A Christmas read?
LINK IN COMMENTS!
'Moving, funny and revelatory’ ...
Nicola Chester.
The Kindle edition of my non-fiction prose book, Village, also readable on phone or computer, is free this Sunday 30 Nov (from about 8 am) A Christmas read?
LINK IN COMMENTS!
Village is a glorious, generous compendium...
'Moving, funny and revelatory’ ...
Nicola Chester.‘
The Kindle edition of my non-fiction prose book, Village, also readable on phone or computer, is free this Sunday 30 Nov (from about 8 am) A Christmas read?
LINK IN COMMENTS!
'Moving, funny and revelatory’ ...
Nicola Chester.‘
The Kindle edition of my non-fiction prose book, Village, also readable on phone or computer, is free this Sunday 30 Nov (from about 8 am) A Christmas read?
LINK IN COMMENTS!
November 28, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Village is a glorious, generous compendium...
'Moving, funny and revelatory’ ...
Nicola Chester.‘
The Kindle edition of my non-fiction prose book, Village, also readable on phone or computer, is free this Sunday 30 Nov (from about 8 am) A Christmas read?
LINK IN COMMENTS!
'Moving, funny and revelatory’ ...
Nicola Chester.‘
The Kindle edition of my non-fiction prose book, Village, also readable on phone or computer, is free this Sunday 30 Nov (from about 8 am) A Christmas read?
LINK IN COMMENTS!
‘Village is a glorious, generous compendium...moving, funny and revelatory’
@nicolawriting.bsky.social , reviewing @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social.
To meet my irrepressible villagers & their songs -in paperback- or Kindle edition, readable on phone/computer for only 99p
LINK IN COMMENT
@nicolawriting.bsky.social , reviewing @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social.
To meet my irrepressible villagers & their songs -in paperback- or Kindle edition, readable on phone/computer for only 99p
LINK IN COMMENT
November 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
‘Village is a glorious, generous compendium...moving, funny and revelatory’
@nicolawriting.bsky.social , reviewing @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social.
To meet my irrepressible villagers & their songs -in paperback- or Kindle edition, readable on phone/computer for only 99p
LINK IN COMMENT
@nicolawriting.bsky.social , reviewing @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social.
To meet my irrepressible villagers & their songs -in paperback- or Kindle edition, readable on phone/computer for only 99p
LINK IN COMMENT
And I could not put down @nicolawriting.bsky.social's new 'Ghosts of the Farm': youth.,horses, Miss White, a tough Second World War woman farmer,, & Nicola's own keen eye on the future of our food & the fragility of farming landscapes & their wildlife...
November 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
And I could not put down @nicolawriting.bsky.social's new 'Ghosts of the Farm': youth.,horses, Miss White, a tough Second World War woman farmer,, & Nicola's own keen eye on the future of our food & the fragility of farming landscapes & their wildlife...
I read @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social's bulletin every week. How well they defend wildness, without sentiment. Here you will find badgers AND barbed wire - & art, music & books exploring a still-green but troubled world!
November 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
I read @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social's bulletin every week. How well they defend wildness, without sentiment. Here you will find badgers AND barbed wire - & art, music & books exploring a still-green but troubled world!
Delighted by @nicolawriting.bsky.social's glowing thoughtful review @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social of my non-fiction book 'Village' (with Mary Chamberlain's 'Fenwomen' - recommended)! 'Village is a glorious, generous compendium'. 'Moving, funny and revelatory’. To buy 'Village' - LINK IN COMMENTS!
November 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Delighted by @nicolawriting.bsky.social's glowing thoughtful review @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social of my non-fiction book 'Village' (with Mary Chamberlain's 'Fenwomen' - recommended)! 'Village is a glorious, generous compendium'. 'Moving, funny and revelatory’. To buy 'Village' - LINK IN COMMENTS!
The horn's village history includes the old wheelwright who hoarded it, & the dynamic Victorian vicar who saved it. In the 1830s, Betty, our 'witch', blew the horn for wedding banns, lowered it & said...what? Find out #OnePlaceWednesday in my prose book 'Village'.
LINK IN COMMENTS!
LINK IN COMMENTS!
November 26, 2025 at 12:17 PM
The horn's village history includes the old wheelwright who hoarded it, & the dynamic Victorian vicar who saved it. In the 1830s, Betty, our 'witch', blew the horn for wedding banns, lowered it & said...what? Find out #OnePlaceWednesday in my prose book 'Village'.
LINK IN COMMENTS!
LINK IN COMMENTS!
When the horn was blown each evening at the Manor, the last quaver travelled two miles on the wind.The labourer straightened up. The cottager (or his son or daughter) chivvied cows off ‘commons’.Was this the village’s memory of a world before enclosure?' 'Village'
#OnePlaceWednesday LINK IN COMMENTS
#OnePlaceWednesday LINK IN COMMENTS
November 26, 2025 at 12:17 PM
When the horn was blown each evening at the Manor, the last quaver travelled two miles on the wind.The labourer straightened up. The cottager (or his son or daughter) chivvied cows off ‘commons’.Was this the village’s memory of a world before enclosure?' 'Village'
#OnePlaceWednesday LINK IN COMMENTS
#OnePlaceWednesday LINK IN COMMENTS
For #OnePlaceWednesday , high & mysterious, in the church of Willoughton, Lincolnshire. A very rare ‘Tuba stentorophonica’, perhaps brought inland from a ship. Our 'vamping horn', of which we were very proud. Legends about it are told in my prose book 'Village'. LINK IN COMMENTS
November 26, 2025 at 12:17 PM
For #OnePlaceWednesday , high & mysterious, in the church of Willoughton, Lincolnshire. A very rare ‘Tuba stentorophonica’, perhaps brought inland from a ship. Our 'vamping horn', of which we were very proud. Legends about it are told in my prose book 'Village'. LINK IN COMMENTS
It's a joy to have my lapwings- however endangered- in this choice feathered company from @candlestickpress.bsky.social! Clare,Hardy.. I particularly commend @jmatkin.bsky.social's regal chough &Lynne Wycherley's dazzling Bewick swans! Do you need a small gift for someone who loves poetry - & birds?
November 25, 2025 at 3:24 PM
It's a joy to have my lapwings- however endangered- in this choice feathered company from @candlestickpress.bsky.social! Clare,Hardy.. I particularly commend @jmatkin.bsky.social's regal chough &Lynne Wycherley's dazzling Bewick swans! Do you need a small gift for someone who loves poetry - & birds?
Last night's moon says Good Morning!
November 25, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Last night's moon says Good Morning!
Here are some details of a reproduction of William Smith's beautiful geological map of Gloucestershire, which I could not resist buying after finishing my poem for the anthology 'Map', Worple Press! And wouldn't William Smith want me to show the ammonite from my poem's photos?
November 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Here are some details of a reproduction of William Smith's beautiful geological map of Gloucestershire, which I could not resist buying after finishing my poem for the anthology 'Map', Worple Press! And wouldn't William Smith want me to show the ammonite from my poem's photos?
Good news- a 4th print of'Map', Worple Press,the anthology celebrating William Smith, pioneering geologist. Editor @michaelmckimm.bsky.social showed poets Smith's map at the Geological Society. Here's the end of my poem 'Strata', reprinted in my own book 'Skies',still with Smith's mysterious wife..
November 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Good news- a 4th print of'Map', Worple Press,the anthology celebrating William Smith, pioneering geologist. Editor @michaelmckimm.bsky.social showed poets Smith's map at the Geological Society. Here's the end of my poem 'Strata', reprinted in my own book 'Skies',still with Smith's mysterious wife..
Good news- a 4th print of'Map', Worple Press,the anthology celebrating William Smith, pioneering geologist. Editor @michaelmckimm.bsky.social showed poets Smith's map at the Geological Society. Here's the start of my poem 'Strata', reprinted in my own book 'Skies',still with Smith's mysterious wife!
November 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Good news- a 4th print of'Map', Worple Press,the anthology celebrating William Smith, pioneering geologist. Editor @michaelmckimm.bsky.social showed poets Smith's map at the Geological Society. Here's the start of my poem 'Strata', reprinted in my own book 'Skies',still with Smith's mysterious wife!
Just read a post elsewhere by the excellent @dranniegray.bsky.social who is not a slave to the notion of a fixed date for 'Stir Up Sunday' for making Christmas puddings! If you agree, here's my grandmother's - and a neighbour's - recipes from a century ago. You do, of course, need SIX puddings?
November 23, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Just read a post elsewhere by the excellent @dranniegray.bsky.social who is not a slave to the notion of a fixed date for 'Stir Up Sunday' for making Christmas puddings! If you agree, here's my grandmother's - and a neighbour's - recipes from a century ago. You do, of course, need SIX puddings?
Two days of frost on the grandly re-named hylotelephiums... then my newest members of the primrose family wake (startled?) to rain. Very best weekend wishes from the garden!
November 22, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Two days of frost on the grandly re-named hylotelephiums... then my newest members of the primrose family wake (startled?) to rain. Very best weekend wishes from the garden!
From the new Prinknash Bird & Deer Park! How many donkeys? Have you ever seen a bigger chicken? Or a formidable swan with better footwear for an English autumn?
November 21, 2025 at 3:05 PM
From the new Prinknash Bird & Deer Park! How many donkeys? Have you ever seen a bigger chicken? Or a formidable swan with better footwear for an English autumn?
Coming back over Cheltenham tonight 18.01! The International Space Station...
November 20, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Coming back over Cheltenham tonight 18.01! The International Space Station...
The International Space Station passed over our darkened suburb last night, amongst the flashing planes, bright, steady and purposefully. I caught it by accident just before the clouds took it...
November 20, 2025 at 11:12 AM
The International Space Station passed over our darkened suburb last night, amongst the flashing planes, bright, steady and purposefully. I caught it by accident just before the clouds took it...
Frost's rosy skies... and frozen roses! Warm best wishes from an icy Gloucestershire!
November 20, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Frost's rosy skies... and frozen roses! Warm best wishes from an icy Gloucestershire!
As the November sun breaks through, this is what we all need...a diptych dial, from the Whipple Museum, Cambridge: our own portable sundial! Brightest wishes!
November 19, 2025 at 1:10 PM
As the November sun breaks through, this is what we all need...a diptych dial, from the Whipple Museum, Cambridge: our own portable sundial! Brightest wishes!
A great year for nerines! At last...I planted most of these bulbs in 2002. Slugs & snails happily devoured them each autumn until 2024, when I fended them off with grit & nets. This year, early drought saved their glory! Do you grow them?
November 18, 2025 at 2:25 PM
A great year for nerines! At last...I planted most of these bulbs in 2002. Slugs & snails happily devoured them each autumn until 2024, when I fended them off with grit & nets. This year, early drought saved their glory! Do you grow them?