Wordsworth's writing hut, at Rydal Mount. On a sheet of 4x5 film that managed, more or less, to withstand an enormous act of incompetence on my part and turn out quite interesting after all. #BelieveinFilm

Publication day! #SwimmingTheSeasons: A freshwater Almanac out now with @saraband-books.bsky.social. Signed copies on the shelf @samreadbookseller.bsky.social and launch in-person and online @portyliterary.bsky.social on Tuesday 12th, when I'll be talking with @elspethwrites.bsky.social #BookSky

Beautiful historic photo of Scale How at our Ambleside campus. The house was once called Green Bank and was the home of Dorothy Harrison, the daughter of Wordsworth’s cousin. For more local literary connections see my ‘Literary Walking Tour of Ambleside’ tinyurl.com/ycybr4yw 📚🍃

*WORDSWORTH SUMMER CONFERENCE 2026 CALL FOR PAPERS* If you are interested in submitting a paper and have not already done so, this is your reminder that the proposal deadline is just one week away. Please send your abstract and short bio to [email protected] by 15 May 2026.

"... The weather is delightful, and the place a paradise; ..." 📔 Letter from Dorothy Wordsworth to Jane Marshall, May 2nd, 1813. 🏡 213 years ago today, the Wordsworth family moved to Rydal Mount. Here they remained for the rest of their lives, and traces still linger in their walls and words.

Mirehouse Gardens near Keswick in the Lake District yesterday morning. The Lake Poets, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey would have sat in this garden.

This is from my "Wildwood" series. Ring barking involves removing a strip of bark all the way round a tree to kill it but leave it standing. The dead trunk becomes a home for insects and birds. This is Sitka Spruce, an invasive non-native tree. #Holga #BelieveInFilm

Join us at our Ambleside campus one week today for this free talk on 'Vikings, Statesmen and Herdwicks: history and myth in the Lake District'. See link below for further details and to book a place 📚🍃

Interested in undertaking postgraduate study in September? There is still time to book a place at this online talk at 6pm tomorrow (Wed 29 April) at which you can find out more about our unique Ambleside-based MA in Literature, Romanticism and the Lake District 📚🍃

"Aërial Rock - whose solitary brow From this low threshold daily meets my sight; ..."🖋 📘 William Wordsworth, 'Aërial Rock- whose solitary brow'.

One year ago today we celebrated the launch of the Wordsworth Way at our Ambleside campus and the publication of the official route guidebook by our own MA graduate, Jade Cookson 📚🍃

"Let more ambitious Poets take the heart By storm, my Verse would rather win its way With gentle violence into minds well pleased To give it welcome with a prompt return Of their own sweetness, ..." 🖋 📘 William Wordsworth, 'Let more ambitious Poets take the heart'. 💐 Happy World Poetry Day!

Very much looking forward to this year's Summer Conference... join us for rambles (walks) & rambles (talks) in Rydal! 🏡

Gritstone book due out this summer now that @cumbriapr.bsky.social can write her final chapter. Well done Wordsworth Grasmere, the best outcome wordsworth.org.uk/rydalmount/?...

The next event in our Cultural Landscapes series is a free talk by @whitbyabi.bsky.social on Anne Lister and her 1824 tour of the Lake District. The talk will take place on Tue 14 April (6.30pm) at our Ambleside campus. For further details & to book a place see www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/per...

I am overjoyed to have appeared at the wonderful Words by the Water festival today, in this the festival’s 25th anniversary year, to talk about my new book, ‘An A-Z of Beatrix Potter’. Thank you to the festival organisers and to all who attended and made the event so very special 📚🍄🍃

📖 I recently had the privilege of attending the Wordsworth Winter Conference 2026, my first as administrator for the Wordsworth Conference Foundation. This was hosted at the wonderful Wordsworth Grasmere, who I cannot thank enough for their warm welcome and support to us all. 1/2

Join me at 11am next Saturday (14 March) at Words by the Water in Keswick for new perspectives on Beatrix Potter from my recently published book, ‘An A-Z of Beatrix Potter’: www.wordsbythewaterkeswick.com/events/penny...

Lovely piece on Beatrix Potter in the latest issue of 'Living North' magazine features an interview with me in which I reflect on Potter as an important environmental writer for children and much more 📚🍄#AnAtoZofBeatrixPotter

A66 Creative Commissions – NOW OPEN for applications! Oxford Cotswold Archaeology are thrilled to announce an open call for two Creative Commissions, each worth up to £9,650, inspired by the archaeological discoveries along the A66! 📅 March 1 2026 🔗 tr.ee/6ArLbX

Why did tourists flock to Grasmere every January in the 1920s and '30s? (Clearly it wasn't for the weather ...) Come and find out @tbtlake.bsky.social, Keswick on 11th March at 6.15, in the Studio. Big clues in the photos below - and/or check out www.wordsbythewaterkeswick.com

Join me online at 6pm on Wed 18 Feb to find out more about our unique Ambleside-based MA in Literature, Romanticism and the Lake District (with full time & part time study options available)🍃📚 x.com/cumbriaengli...

Join us next Tuesday at our Ambleside campus for this free public Cultural Landscapes talk. For further details and to book a place visit the link below.

"... Like that which frowns round dark Lochskene. There eagles scream from isle to shore; Down all the rocks the torrents roar; O'er the black waves incessant driven, Dark mists infect the summer heaven;"🖋 📕 Walter Scott, extract from 'Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field'.

✨ An Evening with National Trust Archaeologists ✨ Ever wondered what archaeology looks like behind the scenes at National Trust places? Join the CBA for a free online evening exploring the archaeology cared for by National Trust, including community digs, hilltop enclosures and Roman gold mining.

I've been thinking a lot about the Duddon valley recently, not least because I'm giving a talk about photographing Hardknott Forest at the University of Cumbria Ambleside Campus on February 3rd. Details here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/cultural-lan...

Some breaking art historical news for you - a lost portrait of Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn was unveiled today at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. It’s been missing for more than 200 years. 1/3

Events updates! First up - a @bars.bsky.social digital panel on Jan 14th, 5pm - with Anneke Lubkowkitz, Annie Rutherford, Abi Palmer and me talking about Romantic era writers, disability, walking, landscape and queerness. pollyatkin.com/events/

A New Year’s greeting from the collection! Wishing you all a thoughtful and hopeful start to the year ahead. 🖼 Gift Cards for the New Year by W.Place Dickes, 1874 #BritishLibrary #Library #Collection #HappyNewYear

Spirit of the old new year

"To night the church-tower bells will ring Through these wide realms a festire peal; To the new year a welcoming; A tuneful offering for the weal Of happy millions lulled in sleep While I am forced to watch and weep, By wounds that may not heal." William Wordsworth 'Lament of Mary Queen of Scots'.

Thanks to all our members, supporters, donors and volunteers for everything they have done this year! Our offices are now closed until Monday 5 January. If you need to contact us urgently please email our info at address (see our website). Otherwise we'll see you in 2026! 📸Chris Howe

"This is the day when kindred meet Round one accustomed social fire: ... Beneath the Grandsire's reverenced roof, Where faithful love through trying years has stood all proof." 🖋 📔 Dorothy Wordsworth, 'Christmas day', 1837. 🎄 Merry Christmas all, and Happy Birthday Dorothy ❤️

Owl alert! You can listen back to my little snippet on #TawnyOwls now. Thanks agains so much to Sophie Anton for asking me to do this and to being so flexible so we could get it recorded easily and accessibly for me, and to Caz Graham for coming to do the recording. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Online poetry reading tomorrow evening UK time from the Wordsworth Trust - @kimmoorepoet.bsky.social hosting Josie Giles. Next month is Sarah Howe! I keep missing these but they're such great events. Do share and come along! www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

Snacktime! 🐿️😍 During autumn, red squirrels scour their habitats for nuts, berries & other vital energy sources. They don't hibernate, so they cache lots of this foraged food in shallow holes and tree crevices to keep them going through the cold winter months. 🎥 Paul Burke #NatureInFlux

On Friday 28 November (3pm) I'll be speaking in the seminar series from the Centre for Regional and Local History and the Centre for Urban History at the University of Leicester. It's free and open to the public - all welcome! Info in AltText. #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems #book #history #event

"Mary and I walked to the top of the hill and looked at Rydale. I was much affected when I stood upon the second bar of Sara's gate. The lake was perfectly still, the sun shone on the hill and vale, the distant birch trees looked like large golden flowers." 📔 Dorothy Wordsworth, 1st November 1802.

It's been a busy and very wet week for Jan and the volunteers in our #Ambleside woodlands - and there's an exciting new opportunity to help plant some wildflowers at Mazonwath. Read all about it: https://loom.ly/sm_pXiU#Ambleside #naturewriting #volunteering #LakeDistrict 📸 George Carr

The weather forecast for next week is very good but until then, another day of this to get through. Derwentwater, Cumbria today.

This is wonderful news and fantastic to see another piece of important research, begun as part of an assessed project on our MA programme, now reaching a wider audience and being showcased in this way. Many congratulations @suewilkinson.bsky.social 📚🍃

Newly advertised part-time Museum Assistant (Marketing & Content) job opportunity at The Armitt Museum & Library in Ambleside. Deadline for applications: 3rd October. See here for further details: uk.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=c...

It's here! Welcome to the Lancaster Litfest Autumn Weekend 2025, running 17-21 October and 18 November. Ft Sarah Hall, Simon Armitage, @oliverklangmead.bsky.social @mkhardywrites.com Xiaolu Guo @malikalnasir.bsky.social & more! Browse the full programme and get your tickets now! litfest.org

We're recruiting 🔔 Thanks to internal staff promotion, we're looking for a part time Administration Officer to join us in our Kendal Office. Check out our website for more details of this job: https://loom.ly/DnAm1-k #workforus #administration #recruiting

We're recruiting 🔔 Thanks to internal staff promotion, we're looking for a part time Administration Officer to join us in our Kendal Office. Check out our website for more details of this job: https://loom.ly/DnAm1-k #workforus #administration #recruiting

The first event in our 2025-26 Cultural Landscapes series will be a talk by @pollyrowena.bsky.social: ‘Companions of nature: sickbed consolations & mimic hootings', on Tue 7 Oct (6.30pm) at our Ambleside campus. Details & booking link for this free event here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/cultural-lan...

We'll have early paperbacks of #TheCompanyOfOwls at this event in Ambleside on 7th October - it's free to attend and open to anyone - come along if you can! #DorothyWordsworth #RomanticLegacies #LakeDistrictLit #CumbriaCulture #LakePoets #NatureWriting #Memoir #Biography #BookSky

🥂 It's time for another Rydal Mount Poetry Evening! 📖 This Saturday at 4pm, Kieron Winn will read from his new collection of poems, 'No Time', in our beautiful drawing room at Rydal Mount. Admission to the reading is free. Come along and hear poems about love, holidays, family, Grasmere, and home.

"[August] 24th, Sunday. A fine cool pleasant breezy day - walked in the wood in the morning ... I was ill in the afternoon and lay down - got up restored by a sound sleep." 🖋 📔 'Dorothy Wordsworth's Illustrated Lakeland Journals' (1991). 🍃 Dorothy's journal entry, 225 years ago today. .

Webinar ⚠️ Join our engagement lead Kay for a look at the troubling issue of litter and anti-social behaviour (such as fly camping and open fires) in the landscape. We'll share feedback from our recent survey and explore what can be done. Book here for free: https://loom.ly/Kkt8dPc