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
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...
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
Much of the new farm machinery, that took the place of, or worked alongside the horses, had names. Racing Lizzie worked beside ‘Alice Charming’ the Allis Chalmer crawler tractor, ‘Nightingale’ the steam engine & simply, ‘the sheen’ of the threshing machine, which Bert was Captain of & groom #Booksky
November 24, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Much of the new farm machinery, that took the place of, or worked alongside the horses, had names. Racing Lizzie worked beside ‘Alice Charming’ the Allis Chalmer crawler tractor, ‘Nightingale’ the steam engine & simply, ‘the sheen’ of the threshing machine, which Bert was Captain of & groom #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.]
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.
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!
Delighted to be stepping (hobbling) back into the @foldedorset.bsky.social tomorrow evening! In only my 3rd time out the house in nearly 3 weeks, I am toooo excited!
November 12, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Delighted to be stepping (hobbling) back into the @foldedorset.bsky.social tomorrow evening! In only my 3rd time out the house in nearly 3 weeks, I am toooo excited!
Fell in love with this old girl, who retains her youthful spirit of optimism. Against the odds, managed to bring her home. Remember my fierce Northants Nan making pastry on the fold down top of a similar one, bashing it with a milk bottle. The way she was taught in service at the Big House kitchen.
November 11, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Fell in love with this old girl, who retains her youthful spirit of optimism. Against the odds, managed to bring her home. Remember my fierce Northants Nan making pastry on the fold down top of a similar one, bashing it with a milk bottle. The way she was taught in service at the Big House kitchen.
Lovely warm welcome from the @waterstones.bsky.social Romsey crowd… & a really wonderful interview from @julia-in-between.bsky.social. So glad I managed to hobble & make it!
November 10, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Lovely warm welcome from the @waterstones.bsky.social Romsey crowd… & a really wonderful interview from @julia-in-between.bsky.social. So glad I managed to hobble & make it!
Horses tell the story of the rural working class, particularly women, which is often a surprise to many (work, not ownership.) Women historically gatekept from any other influence on the land. #GhostsoftheFarm tells this story, as well as the remarkable, forgotten, warm & funny narrative of 1/2
November 6, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Horses tell the story of the rural working class, particularly women, which is often a surprise to many (work, not ownership.) Women historically gatekept from any other influence on the land. #GhostsoftheFarm tells this story, as well as the remarkable, forgotten, warm & funny narrative of 1/2
Woodcock moon in a dappled sky. Didn’t capture in photo, but there were, there are, winter migrant birds streaming across it in ones, twos, half a dozen: redwing, fieldfare & woodcock visible to the naked eye & through binoculars. Muted, distant fireworks, a bonfire scent, & all the magic up there.
November 5, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Woodcock moon in a dappled sky. Didn’t capture in photo, but there were, there are, winter migrant birds streaming across it in ones, twos, half a dozen: redwing, fieldfare & woodcock visible to the naked eye & through binoculars. Muted, distant fireworks, a bonfire scent, & all the magic up there.
Look! A giant molehill, or fortress, with my binoculars for scale; &, my eye adjusted for oversized things, are those the hoofmarks of a giant horse on the hill beyond? One of our white chalk hosses galloping about in the night? Or more plausible ‘fairy rings?’ And that prize-winning apple again.
November 5, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Look! A giant molehill, or fortress, with my binoculars for scale; &, my eye adjusted for oversized things, are those the hoofmarks of a giant horse on the hill beyond? One of our white chalk hosses galloping about in the night? Or more plausible ‘fairy rings?’ And that prize-winning apple again.
My nature writing-historical-memoiry mash-up, about pioneering, forgotten women & queer farmers has been out a month! Holed up with a broken leg (will be at Romsey Waterstones & Folde) but I’d love some cheer, shares, a review or stars on that Amzn site to help things along! #GhostsoftheFarm x
November 4, 2025 at 8:45 AM
My nature writing-historical-memoiry mash-up, about pioneering, forgotten women & queer farmers has been out a month! Holed up with a broken leg (will be at Romsey Waterstones & Folde) but I’d love some cheer, shares, a review or stars on that Amzn site to help things along! #GhostsoftheFarm x
Oh so here’s the update. Pffffft. Wasn’t a sprain that I hobbled around on for a couple of days. Have broken my leg above the ankle, & not in a straightforward way. Turns out, you can’t refuse to have a broken leg, because you’ve lots to do. Hurrumph.
November 2, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Oh so here’s the update. Pffffft. Wasn’t a sprain that I hobbled around on for a couple of days. Have broken my leg above the ankle, & not in a straightforward way. Turns out, you can’t refuse to have a broken leg, because you’ve lots to do. Hurrumph.
It’s the perfect read for any season, but particularly now, in the last light of autumn, in the fluttering & settling down, & as our owls establish their territories. You’ll not regret it. Thank you Polly for this gorgeously poetic & comforting, starry-skied book.
November 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
It’s the perfect read for any season, but particularly now, in the last light of autumn, in the fluttering & settling down, & as our owls establish their territories. You’ll not regret it. Thank you Polly for this gorgeously poetic & comforting, starry-skied book.
feathers, reflective, funny,
tender as the rarely-heard ‘ocarina’ love-warbles tawny owls make to each other, & openly, mutually vulnerable & resilient. It says as much about our hearts & communities, as we live in them, within, & as part of nature’s world, as it does about owls. 6/7
tender as the rarely-heard ‘ocarina’ love-warbles tawny owls make to each other, & openly, mutually vulnerable & resilient. It says as much about our hearts & communities, as we live in them, within, & as part of nature’s world, as it does about owls. 6/7
November 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
feathers, reflective, funny,
tender as the rarely-heard ‘ocarina’ love-warbles tawny owls make to each other, & openly, mutually vulnerable & resilient. It says as much about our hearts & communities, as we live in them, within, & as part of nature’s world, as it does about owls. 6/7
tender as the rarely-heard ‘ocarina’ love-warbles tawny owls make to each other, & openly, mutually vulnerable & resilient. It says as much about our hearts & communities, as we live in them, within, & as part of nature’s world, as it does about owls. 6/7
And I love it. One of those books you keep, affectionately on your shelf forever (if I can make it stay) & that gives you a warm, comforting, home-feeling when you run your fingers along the spines of favourite books. #ACompanyofOwls has been a wonderful companion. A Service of Owls: soft as 5/7
November 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
And I love it. One of those books you keep, affectionately on your shelf forever (if I can make it stay) & that gives you a warm, comforting, home-feeling when you run your fingers along the spines of favourite books. #ACompanyofOwls has been a wonderful companion. A Service of Owls: soft as 5/7
I kept a careful eye on this copy, yet lost again for a fortnight as we moved house from one place of owls (all five species at one point in recent years!) to another, a mile away, where we are surrounded by possibly even more owls. It’s been the perfect book to bridge a move between owl houses. 4/
November 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
I kept a careful eye on this copy, yet lost again for a fortnight as we moved house from one place of owls (all five species at one point in recent years!) to another, a mile away, where we are surrounded by possibly even more owls. It’s been the perfect book to bridge a move between owl houses. 4/
I began reading this on a train through the West Country, its fields, towns & woods & was so absorbed I almost missed my stop. Somehow the book didn’t come with me. I bought another that my daughter borrowed & referred to in her dissertation. That fluttered off inexplicably between houses too. 3/7
November 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
I began reading this on a train through the West Country, its fields, towns & woods & was so absorbed I almost missed my stop. Somehow the book didn’t come with me. I bought another that my daughter borrowed & referred to in her dissertation. That fluttered off inexplicably between houses too. 3/7
It’s so alive in its resonance, its locality, its warm & observational strolls around its community - that can also be our, or any community. It’s also become spookily, intriguingly alive for me too, taking on a leaf-fluttering, owlish life of its own. Because this is my 3rd copy. 2/7
November 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
It’s so alive in its resonance, its locality, its warm & observational strolls around its community - that can also be our, or any community. It’s also become spookily, intriguingly alive for me too, taking on a leaf-fluttering, owlish life of its own. Because this is my 3rd copy. 2/7
Just finished this beautifully written, deliciously alive, little-big book. #TheCompanyofOwls @pollyrowena.bsky.social is a slim, rich, nourishing read that is both vast & intimate: vast with a wide-eyed wonder & love of the world we live in, & intimate through such close & immediate inquiry. 1/7
November 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Just finished this beautifully written, deliciously alive, little-big book. #TheCompanyofOwls @pollyrowena.bsky.social is a slim, rich, nourishing read that is both vast & intimate: vast with a wide-eyed wonder & love of the world we live in, & intimate through such close & immediate inquiry. 1/7