She was educated locally from the age of ten, at a dame-school where she learned to read and write and do needlework.

She drew the attention of Anna Eliza Bray in 1831 and shared her poems, one inspired around 1825 by Rev.

Edward Atkyns Bray on hearing him preach about "power of God manifested in the creation of the world".

Bray assisted her in getting her work published and considered her a friend though the vast difference between their classes at the time prevented a closer relationship and, when later publishing her letters, Bray edited them to remove the specific reference to Colling as her friend, while retaining her admiration of her.

Her only book of poems published was Fables and Other Pieces in Verse which included the teaching of values and descriptions of rural life.