Nellie Cole

Blog: A weekend in York

This weekend we had a little retreat to one of my favourite cities to visit, York. The city has such a long and fascinating history: stretching from the Roman to the Anglo-Saxon, through the Viking era to the Medieval times. It is certainly not the only city with such a patchwork heritage, but what I love about York is how you can see this timeline as you walk around its streets. Whether it’s turning a corner to find a Roman-era column, walking around the Norman motte of Clifford’s Tower, or winding your way down the Medieval Shambles, there’s so history to be explored. We definitely didn’t manage to see it all, but it was nevertheless a lovely way to spend a weekend.

Blog: The colours of winter

The darkest days of winter are behind us, and spring will soon be on the way. But we don’t have to wait until the seasons change to find wonderful displays of colour in nature. On a walk around the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, I challenged myself to find every colour of the rainbow in the plants and buds around me. Take a journey through the colourful gardens by scrolling through the images below.

New year, new look

Hello! After a little time away from posting regularly, I’ve come back to this site and given it a little sprucing up. Some pages have been taken down, and a few new ones are in the works.

All my older posts can still be found below – I am currently in the process of editing the text colour to match the new theme, so apologies if any of the posts are still in a pale green!

I look forward to writing more here over the coming months ❤

Blog: Courses in creativity

I don’t like making new year’s resolutions. When I have set myself targets, I’ve been notoriously bad at keeping to them, and then I just feel bad about failing. I think many people, including myself, would benefit more from seeing the annual tradition of ‘resolutions’ to be a verb, not a noun. Something to be working on, and continually striving towards, a doing – not something to achieve, with concrete outcomes.

Blog: shop reopening!

My small shop, selling my handcrafted wares, is reopen for 2021!

Open only for a short time between November and December, Handmade by Nellie sells the resin art, woodland crafts, and jewellery that I have crafted over the past year. If you are looking for a festive gift, or even just a decoration for your own home, head over to my Folksy shop here.

My year in mosses

Puzzlewood, in the Forest of Dean – perpetually covered in moss…

Autumn is possibly the best time to go out searching for mosses and lichens. As bushes and hedgerows shed their leaves, and damper weather arrives, these organisms become vibrant and increasingly more noticeable. But remember to carry your ‘moss-coloured glasses’ with you, and you can spot mosses and lichens all year around – even in the most unexpected of places. Here’s my year in mosses (and lichen).

Scrapbook: Page 6

Here is the next page in my virtual scrapbook: a round up of the last month’s moments.

underGROWTH: Free Zine!

Since my last post, my zine has returned from the printers, several batches of resin pendants have been made, and around seventy copies of ‘Miniature Worlds’ have been packaged up in biodegradable cellophane and sent out to readers. The wider underGROWTH project has come to a close, and an archive of all of the micro-residencies has gone live online. Here is the final closing chapter on what has been a really enjoyable and fruitful project.

Poetry on the Shakespeare Line

You might remember, a little while ago, I posted about an exciting project I was invited to be a part of. ‘Poetry on the Shakespeare Line’ paired a poet with each station from Birmingham Moor Street to Stratford-upon-Avon, a train line named after the region’s most famous resident. I was paired with the idyllic, rural stop of Danzey. The resulting poem, titled ‘A Light’, was a joy to work on and create, and is now live for people to enjoy. Audio of me reading the poem can be downloaded on the Overhear app when travelling on the Line, and the text will feature on posters on platforms in the near future.

When I feel comfortable and have reason to travel on the Shakespeare Line once again, I will take some photos of this lovely station, and post about the inspiration behind my poem and process of writing it. But until then, here’s the press release, which explains the outcome and response to this project.

Scrapbook: Page 5

Here is the next page in my virtual scrapbook: a round up of the last couple of weeks’ moments.