Kira Welland
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kirawelland.bsky.social
Kira Welland
@kirawelland.bsky.social
Doctoral researcher at the University of Cumbria, investigating the spatial contexts of Rydal Mount and how these influence the writings of Mary, Dorothy, and Dora Wordsworth.

House Guide at Rydal Mount & Gardens.
Reposted by Kira Welland
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/...
Tweet of the Day - Polly Atkin on the Tawny Owl - BBC Sounds
For writer Polly Atkin the nighttime calls of tawny owls mean company and community.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
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...
'Go to the poets': Harry Josephine Giles
Curated and hosted by poet Kim Moore, our online contemporary poetry reading series continues throughout 2025. We will be listening to what poets...
www.trybooking.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
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
November 12, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Kira Welland
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
November 12, 2025 at 11:11 AM
"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.
November 12, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
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

#naturewriting #volunteering #LakeDistrict

📸 George Carr
September 19, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
The weather forecast for next week is very good but until then, another day of this to get through. Derwentwater, Cumbria today.
September 19, 2025 at 5:55 PM
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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 📚🍃
Exciting news: I've got a 3-page article on the Grasmere Dialect Plays in the Oct 2025 issue of 'Cumbria Life' magazine! Really hoping this will bring them to a wider audience @drpennybradshaw.bsky.social @countrystride.bsky.social
For more on the Plays, head over to @grasdialectplays.bsky.social
September 19, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
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...
September 17, 2025 at 3:44 PM
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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
September 4, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Kira Welland
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
September 18, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by Kira Welland
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
September 12, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
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...
September 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
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
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...
September 9, 2025 at 7:36 PM
🥂 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.
An evening with Rydal Mount's poet in residence, Kieron Winn.
At 4pm on Saturday 13th September, Kieron Winn will read from his new collection of poems, No Time, in Wordsworth’s beautiful drawing room.
www.rydalmount.co.uk
September 10, 2025 at 7:23 AM
"[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.
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August 24, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Kira Welland
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
August 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
Wednesday this week…meet the author. Part of a series of fascinating free events in the Lake District. RT pls @lakedistrict.bsky.social @ucuuoc.bsky.social @lakedistrictnpa.bsky.social @lakesstiles.bsky.social
Meet the author..the fascinating David Howe @davidprf.bsky.social is guest at the Burn How Hotel book session on Weds Aug 27, 7pm, it's free, all welcome. David wrote the glorious "Rocks & Rain, Reason & Romance", one of the best ever books about the Lakes. Pls share. @lakedistrict.bsky.social
August 24, 2025 at 4:54 AM
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What happens if we do #history through #poetry? What new stories come into focus? Whose voices do we hear? Join us for the 2025 Creighton Lecture: historian Catherine Clarke & poet Hannah Lowe in conversation with IHR Director Claire Langhamer. All welcome. Book: www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
August 18, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
Over on @grasdialectplays.bsky.social you can find lots of photos from fabulous readings - by members of the Lakeland Dialect Society - from the Grasmere Dialect Plays. Podcast coming soon: watch this space!
August 14, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
Will Dinah marry Gawin, or his nephew, Kit? (Act IV, "On Second Thoughts")
Another picture from yesterday's readings from the Grasmere Dialect Plays at the Armitt Museum, Ambleside.
L to R: John Campbell (Gawin), Phillip Gate (Kit), & Jean Scott-Smith (Dinah).
Watch out for the podcast!
August 14, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Kira Welland
Remnants of the past revealed through grass - take a look at these parch marks at Mottisfont in Hampshire!

Where the walls of former Medieval monastery buildings lie underground, the grass on top dries out quicker than the surrounding areas.
August 16, 2025 at 8:04 AM
"...Her whose eyes
Saw light through every wildering maze uncouth." 🖋

📕 'Suspiria', Edward Quillinan.

🎊 Happy 221st Birthday Dora Quillinan née Wordsworth!
August 16, 2025 at 3:02 PM
📚 It is just one week until our next Poetry Evening at Rydal Mount! If you're 'in quest of known and unknown things' like our Dorothy, come along for an evening of poetry, history, and delicious gingerbread.

🎟 Tickets are available at: www.rydalmount.co.uk/wordsworth-p...
Wordsworth Poetry Reading - Rydal | Rydal Mount
An unforgettable evening of evocative poetry read in Wordsworth’s last and favourite home.
www.rydalmount.co.uk
August 8, 2025 at 11:04 AM
A wonderful start to the Wordsworth Summer Conference yesterday at Rydal Hall, with this gorgeous sight on the way home...

...is that perhaps gold at the end of the rainbow? 🌈 ✨️

Looking forward to welcoming the conference to RM on Saturday!
August 5, 2025 at 9:48 AM