A heron in mid-flight

Getting the MOT done in Workington again.

Fascinating! The erne!

Image courtesy of @wyorksarchives

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...

post for event: 14 January 2026, 5pm UK time, via zoom. 
This roundtable highlights new developments in research and outreach around the work and lives of the English poet and diarist Dorothy Wordsworth and the German poet and author Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. While foregrounding the writings of Dorothy and Droste, the roundtable will also introduce Que(e)ry Points, a collaborative project that interweaves work by the writers with new texts, audio material, and a playable online game. Que(e)ry Points invites readers, listeners and players to explore how queerness and chronic illness inform the writing of both authors, as well as their relationship to landscape. Que(e)ry Points takes its name from notes Dorothy Wordsworth made to herself in her Alfoxden journal of questions about her surroundings as she walks, that she needed to record to look up later. Speakers: Polly Atkin, Anneke Lubkowkitz, Abi Palmer and Annie Rutherford

Join us on Wednesday 14th at 5pm on zoom! #DorothyWordsworth #Droste #Romanticism #DisabledWriters #QueerHistory #DisabilityHistory

Rook, in winter sunshine, in tree

New Year Grasmere Rook

Heron standing in beck

This morning's heron

Kestrel with wings outstretched

I call this photo Workington, home of the best kestrel AKA getting the car serviced on a windy day

My cozy fantasy novel inspired by my love (and fear…) of Scotland’s mountains, misadventures in academia, and time spent adventuring in Dungeons and Dragons, will be out next July!!

Love this. Also, how does it all work?

Heron with beak under wing in the field opposite the bookshop on Broadgate

Solid Grasmere heron content

Tomorrow morning I'll be on BBC Three Counties radio answering questions on the ouevre of Will Smith. Classic wireless content.

Lovely. I will be at the bookshelves tomorrow, Saturday, for all Grasmere book needs. Hope you have a good weekend either way!

Photo of Rory Stewart on the left hand side, image of Rory's new book Middleland: Dispatches from the Borders (Jonathan Cape) in the centre, and on the right hand side, a photo of James Rebanks.

We're delighted to announce Rory Stewart will be launching new book Middleland in conversation with James Rebanks at Westmorland Hall, Kendal on Tuesday 28th October, 7pm. Buy your ticket and pre-order signed copies of Middleland to collect on the night: betterboxoffice.co.uk/westmorland-...

Sun going down over Silver How, seen from Stock Lane

Another sunny day in Grasmere...

Me on Radio Cumbria this morning, introducing Jenn Ashworth's new coast-to-coast book "path books are having a time..."

Such nostalgia for seed tray gardens.

Heron balanced on a fence over the river in amongst green fields.

Your daily Grasmere heron

You should have seen his seedtray garden. One of the best.

Good to see the Albanian market for Postal Paths catered for there.

Amazing to see a photo with vivid childhood memories. This is the side of the Entwistle Cup, which I recall as being *the* hotly contested trophy (for children in Suffolk) at what used to be the Barrow and District Horticultural Society Show... @jessasatomp.bsky.social is that you on there too?

I spent £4.20 on @theobserveruk.bsky.social and Erica Wagner’s comment piece on Raynor Winn is missing its last sentence. Can I get any money back? (from the Observer not Raynor Winn which is obviously less likely)

Northern lights in the sky above Grasmere. Silhouette of Helm Crag on the horizon. Purple, blue and green light visible in the sky.

Last night's Northern Lights over Grasmere #undertheaurora

Book tip! This diary of a Lakeland Dr turned RAMC Lieutenant is fantastic on the disconnect between the intimate violence & filth of the trenches and surrounding countryside, and also deeply moving w fragmentary glimpses of two men trying to rekindle a love affair against the backdrop of war (1/2)

Teal coloured square with background of shape of the British Isles. Top left corner has the golden nib logo of the nibbies with 2025 under it and The 35th British Book Awards to the right. Top right has sponsored by Gardners. Centre text reads: independent bookshop of the year, regional and country finalist, north england.

Very proud to be a regional finalist for the Independent Bookshop of the Year once more. It may be #TheNibbies 35th anniversary year, and Sam Read Bookseller's 138th, but it is judged on @likewinterblue.bsky.social and @pollyrowena.bsky.social's 1st full year of stewardship, so extra special to us.

Rumer Godden, In This House of Brede (Virago Modern Classic) on the bookshop counter with bookshelves behind

Rumer Godden, Black Narcissus (Virago Modern Classic) on the bookshop counter with bookshelves behind

Rumer Godden Virago Modern Classic reissues, spine on on the bookshop table, standing next to Elizabeth Fair, Rose Macaulay and Elizabeth von Arnim

RUMER HAS IT that these amazing Virago Modern Classic editions are published today! Rumer Godden's novels with excellent cover illustrations by Joanna Lisowiec. www.samreadbooks.co.uk/s/search?q=%...

SO excited about Ella Risbridger's In Love with Love: The Persistence and Joy of Romantic Fiction, published in November by @sceptrebooks.bsky.social #SceptreSalon25

Enjoying the life stream of this salon! Wolf Moon by @arifa.bsky.social sounds great and of course super excited for #TheParallelPath by fabulous @jennashworth.bsky.social. Also for Ella Risbridger's new one and all the EM Forster reissues (always a Forster stan).

PRE ORDER - Jenn Ashworth, The Parallel Path: Love, Grit and Walking the North | Sam Read Bookseller Online Shop *Please note this title is not published until the 17th July 2025*Burnt-out and in need of retreat, Jenn Ashworth emerged from lockdown with a compulsive need to walk - and to walk away. Armed with li...

Hugely excited about @jennashworth.bsky.social's coast-to-coast memoir The Parallel Path: Love, Grit and Walking the North coming in July... www.samreadbooks.co.uk/product/pre-...

I'm loving this evening's #SceptreSalon25, packed with exciting books for the year ahead but also brilliant for programming a simple livestream for booksellers outside of London to watch too.

Too kind! Yes, that's the best. I think it's a fascinating first hand account and it's only just been published in a very small press edition.