Dr Penny Bradshaw
@drpennybradshaw.bsky.social
Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Cumbria. ‘An A-Z of Beatrix Potter’ forthcoming with Bloomsbury Academic Jan 8th. Programme Leader for ‘MA Literature, Romanticism, and the Lake District’ at Ambleside.
‘I will go back to the hills again / To the hills I knew of old’. A beautiful and moving Cumbria-inspired poem for Remembrance Sunday 📚🍃
November 9, 2025 at 3:12 PM
‘I will go back to the hills again / To the hills I knew of old’. A beautiful and moving Cumbria-inspired poem for Remembrance Sunday 📚🍃
The next free event in our Cultural Landscapes series will be a talk on Tuesday 2nd December (6.30pm start) by @dalegothic96.bsky.social on 'Gothic Architecture and Gothic Fiction in the Long Eighteenth Century'. See here for further details & to book a place: www.ticketsource.co.uk/cultural-lan...
November 5, 2025 at 10:36 AM
The next free event in our Cultural Landscapes series will be a talk on Tuesday 2nd December (6.30pm start) by @dalegothic96.bsky.social on 'Gothic Architecture and Gothic Fiction in the Long Eighteenth Century'. See here for further details & to book a place: www.ticketsource.co.uk/cultural-lan...
A joyous and very special Cultural Landscapes event this evening with the brilliant Dr Sue Allan discussing song, music and dance in the Lake Counties. The talk included archive recordings as well as wonderful performances from Sue herself 🎶🍃📚
November 4, 2025 at 9:55 PM
A joyous and very special Cultural Landscapes event this evening with the brilliant Dr Sue Allan discussing song, music and dance in the Lake Counties. The talk included archive recordings as well as wonderful performances from Sue herself 🎶🍃📚
A Cumbrian poem for Hallowe'en: 'The Vampyre' (1810) by John Stagg, who was born near Carlisle. The poem appeared in his collection 'The Minstrel of the North; or, Cumbrian Legends'
🦇🧛♂️🎃🕯️📚 rictornorton.co.uk/gothic/stagg...
🦇🧛♂️🎃🕯️📚 rictornorton.co.uk/gothic/stagg...
October 31, 2025 at 4:01 PM
A Cumbrian poem for Hallowe'en: 'The Vampyre' (1810) by John Stagg, who was born near Carlisle. The poem appeared in his collection 'The Minstrel of the North; or, Cumbrian Legends'
🦇🧛♂️🎃🕯️📚 rictornorton.co.uk/gothic/stagg...
🦇🧛♂️🎃🕯️📚 rictornorton.co.uk/gothic/stagg...
Glorious autumnal day for a sunny morning leg stretch along the banks of the River Ribble and a visit to the old Roman town of Ribchester 🏛️🍁🍂
October 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Glorious autumnal day for a sunny morning leg stretch along the banks of the River Ribble and a visit to the old Roman town of Ribchester 🏛️🍁🍂
Vibrant yellow October leaf art 🍁
October 24, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Vibrant yellow October leaf art 🍁
Dramatic skies over the lake here in Ambleside this morning for the first of our MA seminars on Arthur Ransome’s influential ‘Swallows and Amazons’ series ⛵️📚🍃 #LiteraryLandscapes
October 24, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Dramatic skies over the lake here in Ambleside this morning for the first of our MA seminars on Arthur Ransome’s influential ‘Swallows and Amazons’ series ⛵️📚🍃 #LiteraryLandscapes
A misty, moody and beautiful day in Ambleside for our discussion of ‘Romantic Ecology’ and the way in which Wordsworth’s work has contributed to our thinking about the relationship between humans and the natural environment 📚🍂
October 21, 2025 at 6:53 PM
A misty, moody and beautiful day in Ambleside for our discussion of ‘Romantic Ecology’ and the way in which Wordsworth’s work has contributed to our thinking about the relationship between humans and the natural environment 📚🍂
October ditch: leaf art 🍂
October 18, 2025 at 6:20 PM
October ditch: leaf art 🍂
Absolutely brilliant talk by my doctoral student @whitbyabi.bsky.social
on Anne Lister and Dorothy Wordsworth at the Anne Lister Research Summit. So good to see the way in which material from the Armitt Library archive and the newly published Rydal Journals are informing new research 📚🍃
on Anne Lister and Dorothy Wordsworth at the Anne Lister Research Summit. So good to see the way in which material from the Armitt Library archive and the newly published Rydal Journals are informing new research 📚🍃
October 18, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Absolutely brilliant talk by my doctoral student @whitbyabi.bsky.social
on Anne Lister and Dorothy Wordsworth at the Anne Lister Research Summit. So good to see the way in which material from the Armitt Library archive and the newly published Rydal Journals are informing new research 📚🍃
on Anne Lister and Dorothy Wordsworth at the Anne Lister Research Summit. So good to see the way in which material from the Armitt Library archive and the newly published Rydal Journals are informing new research 📚🍃
‘The more local you are, the more global you are’: the ever-brilliant Sarah Hall on her new novel, ‘Helm’, place-writing, and the importance of positivity in environmental fictional writing at @litfest.bsky.social 📚🍃
October 17, 2025 at 7:59 PM
‘The more local you are, the more global you are’: the ever-brilliant Sarah Hall on her new novel, ‘Helm’, place-writing, and the importance of positivity in environmental fictional writing at @litfest.bsky.social 📚🍃
Day of leave to take in a matinee show in Blackpool and so (as I have been missing the coast of late) I spent a lovely morning walking along the deserted beach and taking in its vast vistas and faded late Victorian grandeur.
October 16, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Day of leave to take in a matinee show in Blackpool and so (as I have been missing the coast of late) I spent a lovely morning walking along the deserted beach and taking in its vast vistas and faded late Victorian grandeur.
Low clouds and autumn colours made this a perfect day for discussing Coleridge’s poetic engagement with Lake District landscapes, including his evocatively Gothic opening of Book 2 of ‘Christabel’ 📚🍂
October 14, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Low clouds and autumn colours made this a perfect day for discussing Coleridge’s poetic engagement with Lake District landscapes, including his evocatively Gothic opening of Book 2 of ‘Christabel’ 📚🍂
Had a very lovely surprise at the end of my MA seminar today when a colleague arrived to present me with a beautiful bouquet to mark 25 years of very happy service at our University 💐📚🎓
October 14, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Had a very lovely surprise at the end of my MA seminar today when a colleague arrived to present me with a beautiful bouquet to mark 25 years of very happy service at our University 💐📚🎓
Interested in PG study in the fields of literary, cultural, heritage & environmental studies? Why not come along to our Open Day on Sat 8 Nov to find out more about our MA Literature, Romanticism & the English Lake District, based at our Ambleside campus: www.cumbria.ac.uk/events/open-...
October 13, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Interested in PG study in the fields of literary, cultural, heritage & environmental studies? Why not come along to our Open Day on Sat 8 Nov to find out more about our MA Literature, Romanticism & the English Lake District, based at our Ambleside campus: www.cumbria.ac.uk/events/open-...
Inspired as I always am at this time of year by our MA work on Beatrix Potter’s mycological studies, I have ‘gathered’ a little collection of fungi from recent walks 🍄🍄🟫
October 12, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Inspired as I always am at this time of year by our MA work on Beatrix Potter’s mycological studies, I have ‘gathered’ a little collection of fungi from recent walks 🍄🍄🟫
One of the highlights of the year: our MA student visit to The Armitt Museum and Library, to study the extraordinary mycological watercolours produced by Beatrix Potter in the 1890s as part of our engagement with the development of children’s literature in the Lake District 🍃📚🍄🍄🟫
October 10, 2025 at 7:06 PM
One of the highlights of the year: our MA student visit to The Armitt Museum and Library, to study the extraordinary mycological watercolours produced by Beatrix Potter in the 1890s as part of our engagement with the development of children’s literature in the Lake District 🍃📚🍄🍄🟫
The last of the day’s light 🍂
October 8, 2025 at 6:49 PM
The last of the day’s light 🍂
The next event in our free monthly Cultural Landscapes series will be a talk by Cultural Historian, Dr Sue Allan, on 'Folk song, music & dance in the Lake Counties', taking place at our Ambleside campus on Tue 4 Nov. See here for details and to book a place: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/per...
October 8, 2025 at 12:25 PM
The next event in our free monthly Cultural Landscapes series will be a talk by Cultural Historian, Dr Sue Allan, on 'Folk song, music & dance in the Lake Counties', taking place at our Ambleside campus on Tue 4 Nov. See here for details and to book a place: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/per...
A wonderful start to our 25-26 Cultural Landscapes event series with a superb talk by
@pollyrowena.bsky.social which drew together material from her books ‘Recovering Dorothy’ & ‘The Company of Owls’ to explore modes of companionship with our fellow creatures & the wider natural environment 📚🍃🦉
@pollyrowena.bsky.social which drew together material from her books ‘Recovering Dorothy’ & ‘The Company of Owls’ to explore modes of companionship with our fellow creatures & the wider natural environment 📚🍃🦉
October 7, 2025 at 9:47 PM
A wonderful start to our 25-26 Cultural Landscapes event series with a superb talk by
@pollyrowena.bsky.social which drew together material from her books ‘Recovering Dorothy’ & ‘The Company of Owls’ to explore modes of companionship with our fellow creatures & the wider natural environment 📚🍃🦉
@pollyrowena.bsky.social which drew together material from her books ‘Recovering Dorothy’ & ‘The Company of Owls’ to explore modes of companionship with our fellow creatures & the wider natural environment 📚🍃🦉
Autumnal nature art 🍂🍄
October 5, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Autumnal nature art 🍂🍄
As the garden has taken a bit of a battering over the last few hours, this seemed a good moment to make a last gathering of summer’s gifts for a little autumn display 🍂💐
October 4, 2025 at 1:42 PM
As the garden has taken a bit of a battering over the last few hours, this seemed a good moment to make a last gathering of summer’s gifts for a little autumn display 🍂💐
Before the storm: beautiful autumn colours in Ambleside 🍂
October 3, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Before the storm: beautiful autumn colours in Ambleside 🍂
Day of leave to take my wonderful father for lunch and to the theatre - the latter was to see a superb and highly recommended production of ‘Death on the Nile’ at The Lowry 🎭
October 2, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Day of leave to take my wonderful father for lunch and to the theatre - the latter was to see a superb and highly recommended production of ‘Death on the Nile’ at The Lowry 🎭
An extraordinary day, showcasing so many impressive critical and creative responses to Nicholson’s work. Numerous highlights, from a brilliant & moving keynote from Dr David Cooper on ‘half a lifetime’ of reading Nicholson, to some superb and really inspirational papers from our MA graduates 📚🍃
September 27, 2025 at 9:09 PM
An extraordinary day, showcasing so many impressive critical and creative responses to Nicholson’s work. Numerous highlights, from a brilliant & moving keynote from Dr David Cooper on ‘half a lifetime’ of reading Nicholson, to some superb and really inspirational papers from our MA graduates 📚🍃