Explore every episode of the podcast Gretel le Maître Ponders Beauty, with Bede & other guests
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Columba and the Scotts Guards 💂 | 13 oct. 2025 | 00:28:43 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Sherborne prepares for Pack Monday, Peter Wimsey gets to work and the Scots Guard’s magnificent Highland Cathedral | 12 oct. 2025 | 00:37:56 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Lord Peter Wimsey Investigates; while Richard of York procreates; and Cuthbert expires | 12 oct. 2025 | 00:24:37 | |
Hallo! Thank you so much for joining me. There’ll be a second episode this evening, with some music from Sherborne Abbey. Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Saturday morning Saints; Cuthbert nibbles on Five Onions; and the Curse of Irritation | 11 oct. 2025 | 00:31:42 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| The Hedgehogs are Awake still; Philippa Langley; Pepys collects the Portuguese Queen’s Dowry; and there is an Embarrassment of Ponderations 🥴 | 09 oct. 2025 | 00:39:34 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Three Men (and a 🐕) out of their Boat; a Medley of Saints; accompanied by Jackdaws and Robins | 09 oct. 2025 | 00:34:36 | |
Hello and a very good morning from Buckfast Abbey. Today we finish Three Men in a Boat and I wend my way back to Dorset, where the cat and dog will need their usual post-separation reassurance. The sun is shining here and I hope it is for you too. Thank you for joining me. 😀🌳🍂 Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| We close our summer with JL Carr: ‘there will always be a tugging at the heart - knowing a precious moment gone and we not there’ | 08 oct. 2025 | 00:27:00 | |
‘They’ve gone and you can only wait for the pain to pass’ Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| The Breath of Autumnal Air in Oxgodby; Gretel waffles too much; and we toast The Barley Mow at Clifton | 07 oct. 2025 | 00:49:25 | |
The second episode today, to listen to while tucking into bed with warm milk and an extra blanket. 🍂 Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Buckfast Abbey; John Clare and Saints Bruno and Foy. | 07 oct. 2025 | 00:28:10 | |
Good evening. This is the first of two episodes, and this one ends without so much as a goodbye, for which I apologise. Come with me to Devonshire where we rest at a place of peace and tranquility. Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| A Month in the Country takes us to Ripon; a Barking Dog; and Queen Catherine of Braganza arrives Penniless | 06 oct. 2025 | 00:38:46 | |
Hello dear friends, subscribers and newcomers. Welcome to this odd podcast where everything is free, no adverts are there ever, and all it is is a daily chatter, bringing in literature from the past and the hope that we can create a little safe haven of peace and gentleness, kindness and hope. The only price you have to pay is putting up with the fact that nothing is edited or scripted so it’s all jolly ad hoc. But if you can put up with that, then you can join us any day, dipping in and out, or following the literary readings every day. If you rate this, please be kind. Giving a low score, as a couple of people have, make my dog howl in disappointment. Best wishes Gretel 😀🥰😊 PS I think the hedgehog family is now in hibernation ☺️🦔🦔🦔 Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| An Unexpected Chat with Genius Composer Matthew Coleridge; and the beautiful sounds within Sherborne Abbey | 04 oct. 2025 | 00:33:11 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Laurel & Hardy; Saints Galore; and Mr Birkin Misses the Moment | 03 oct. 2025 | 00:47:39 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Autumnal Interlude 🍁🍂🦔 | 02 oct. 2025 | 00:43:31 | |
Good evening This is a little interlude, reading a chapter from Eleanor Parker’s lovely book ‘Winters in the World’, about the Anglo-Saxon year. This is the chapter about the difficult-to-grasp season of Autumn 🍂 I hope you are well! 🤗🍂🦔 Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Tom Birkin ponders Hell; Mortimers Cross; and Montmorency indicates that he Knows but won’t Tell 😊 | 01 oct. 2025 | 00:47:34 | |
Welcome to today’s episode and thank you for your support and messages. 🤗🌷🦔 Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Mr Birkin’s Anger for the Lost Sons; Mr Katt gets a Telling Off; and Gretel Rests by a River | 30 sept. 2025 | 00:33:58 | |
Hallo hallo hallo! How are you this evening? Thank you so much for your wonderful messages of support and suggestions. So many lovely ideas. Oh and if you could spare the time, I would be so grateful if you would possibly give me a kind review and a high rating. It means a lot and I read every review. There are lots of platforms that all keep their own review averages, so if you’ve done it on one, it would be amazing if you possibly did it on another. I know it’s a huge bore to do it. 😭😬 Here are some platforms: Apple, Spotify, Goodpods, Listen Notes, Amazon Music, Audible, Overcast, Deezer, Podchaser, PlayerFM, Castbox, Acast and Buzzsprout. Huge thank you!! And don’t forget if you want me to read a poem or play some music for you or a loved one, do ask. This might be particularly fun during Advent. Gretel xx 🦔🐈⬛🐦⬛🐕 Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| A Murmuration of Ponderings; Pepys visits Portsmouth & Southampton; A Note on Medieval Church Monuments; and The Great War Blights Families, Communities and the Minds of the Returning Men | 29 sept. 2025 | 01:09:35 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| A Teeny Witter or Interlude | 29 sept. 2025 | 00:07:40 | |
Hello, this is another recording that I couldn’t work out how to add to, but rather than delete it, here it is. I arrive at the beautiful driveway to Kelvedon Hall, where nuthatches, buzzards and coots abound. 😊 Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| The George and Dragon at Wargrave; Montmorency burns his Snout; and Gretel heads for Essex | 29 sept. 2025 | 00:37:34 | |
Good morning. Today Jerome K Jerome’s gentlemen (et chien) visit The George and Dragon at Wargrave and The Bull Inn at Sonning. Both pubs are still open and thriving and I’ve popped photographs onto social media. Isn’t it every English person’s dream to walk, row, cycle or chug along the Thames from source to tide? I’m heading to Kelvedon Hall today because I’m deeply interested in the life and times of Sir Henry ‘Chips’ Channon. Reading his diaries have led me to read many more books relating to the inter-war years. It was a fascinating time when society in England was undergoing a quiet revolution that (like all revolutions) had both its downs and ups. Thank you for all your kind messages and suggestions. I read them all and take on board all suggestions. Best wishes, Gretel x Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| The Brothers York; Lolly Willowes; and the Tale of a Yorkshire Scallywag | 28 sept. 2025 | 00:36:06 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| An Unfortunate Bishop’s But(t) as Gretel sinks into A Month in the Country | 26 sept. 2025 | 00:50:39 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Montmorency Retreats from The Cat; Pepys is Revolted by a Floating Corpse; and Elgar ends our Ponder 🌝 | 25 sept. 2025 | 00:33:15 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Montmorency does not like Cats 🐈⬛; The Knave of Knaresborough; and Exmoor is depicted to Perfection | 24 sept. 2025 | 00:40:03 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| The Joys of Marlow; the History of Cleeve Abbey; and JL Carr’s moving portrayal of a Dying Girl | 23 sept. 2025 | 00:45:52 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| The Wind is finally in the Boat’s Favour; A meandering Ponder in the Garden; and we celebrate Maurice and Matthew | 22 sept. 2025 | 00:33:08 | |
Thank you for joining me today. I am optimistic about the week ahead and I hope you are too. The cloud has finally shifted here in England and that makes an awful lot of difference. I’ll try to give a 🦔update soon. I’m putting food out for them every night and it completely disappears! 😄 Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Pavarotti, the Pearl Fishers and A Month in the County excavates one’s own heart | 21 sept. 2025 | 00:37:30 | |
How are you this blustery autumn day? There are so many forms of art that help peel off the scrub around one’s heart, apply a balm, then gently recoat with a protective layer. Unless we tend these sore, scarred spots, we cannot be well. Whether it’s words from a novel or poem, from a painting, or the harmonies of an aria, the arts allow us to walk the walk of healing, support and relief. Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Pepys Sings Gaze Not Upon Swans 🦢; Three Men and Their Boat; and we ponder the ancient Washing of Feet and Hands 🙌🏻 | 20 sept. 2025 | 00:44:37 | |
A poem by Henry Noel (Elizabethan Courtier) Gaze not on Swans Gaze not on swans in whose soft breast Gaze not on roses though new blown Gaze not on that pure milky way For if my emperesse appears The milky way rides past to shrowd So have I seene stars big with light, Henry Noel Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| A Cut-short mini episode with Mr Katt and a Delightful lady in Dunster Museum | 19 sept. 2025 | 00:10:41 | |
Hello, I was unable to add to this episode, sadly, so in despair I’ll publish it as a mini-episode, like a tapas plate. Love Gretel 🦔🤗🙋♀️ Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Pomp & Circumstance; From Trenches to Moon’s Dug-out; and Romeo & Juliet’s terrible First Performance | 18 sept. 2025 | 00:38:48 | |
Hello and thank you so much for joining me. I hope you are well! I look forward to taking you to some Exmoor churches over the next few days. Thank you for your support and kind emails. Gretel x Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Finale of Butler’s Mystery of Becket’s Bones; and we meet Kind and Delightful Moon in JL Carr’s Sensitive Masterpiece | 18 sept. 2025 | 00:59:34 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Elgar, Wordsworth, Tracks, Midweek Music and Saints | 17 sept. 2025 | 00:32:34 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Wessex Woods; Good Saint Edith; and the Trail of Becket’s Bones | 16 sept. 2025 | 00:36:53 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| JL Carr and Jerome K Jerome Understand the Secret to finding Peace. | 15 sept. 2025 | 00:47:51 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Could the Bones Have Survived? And Poor Shattered Ypres Veteran arrives at the Church | 14 sept. 2025 | 00:47:32 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| The Mystery of St Thomas A Becket’s Bones Continues; and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles reaches AD 799 | 14 sept. 2025 | 00:40:28 | |
Hello dear friends and welcome to newcomers. There are two episodes today: this first continues John Butler’s brilliant investigation into the mystery of Becket’s bones; the second episode this evening will also continue this theme, but we will also include our other familiar readings. Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| A Month in the Country and Half a Dozen books tonight. Settle down and close your eyes 🤓 | 12 sept. 2025 | 00:44:19 | |
Good evening, sorry a super-late episode today. After dedicating a whole episode to the delightful P Mould yesterday, I wanted to catch up on all our readings. I know we’ve taken on a lot, but it means there is hopefully something there for you. It’s all jolly ad hoc but I can’t think of anything worse than a fixed recording routine. Thank you to my lovely new subscriber Alison. It means the WORLD to me. So kind. 🙋♀️🌷 Rest well and see you tomorrow x Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Philip Mould OBE, Art Historian and Lovely Chap, chats to Gretel about Art | 11 sept. 2025 | 00:47:08 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Chaucer’s England; we Close the St Gregory Chapter; and we Progress with dear Pepys | 10 sept. 2025 | 00:21:14 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Hardy’s Overlooking the River Stour; St Gregory gives Augustine advice; Pepys’ shows good Character; and Where are St Thomas’s Bones? | 09 sept. 2025 | 00:32:25 | |
Dear friends, thank you for your company and support. Nothing is asked of you with this half-baked endeavour than your company. Be patient with me regarding the amateur production and please don’t rate me with a one or two, though think it you might. I share with you this evening Dorset sounds, Hardy’s words, Mr Katt’s mischief, Janina Ramirez’s writings on St Gregory, Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat (and Montmorency of course), Samuel Pepys and the mystery of Thomas Becket’s bones. And lots of rain with a little choral music in the background. Come join me in my warm, candle-lit shelter. 🦔 Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Visit to Church of St Candida and Holy Cross; and part three of Mystery of Becket’s Bones | 08 sept. 2025 | 00:37:12 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| The Mystery of Becket’s Bones; Sherborne Evensong; and Pepys Tends his Swollen Testicle | 07 sept. 2025 | 00:30:10 | |
Hello and a very warm welcome to this evening’s episode that starts with Doggo splashing in the clear chalk streams of Dorset and includes live Choral Evensong from Sherborne’s honey-hued Abbey. How are you today? Thank you Brendan, Aidan and Michele for your ideas. I will take every one of them on board. For those who live in Germany, South Africa and Czechia, what is your name and would you like me to say hallo? I’ve decided to send a battered copy of Barnaby Rudge as well as a present from Sherborne Abbey’s Gift Shop and a few photographs taken by me that are unique, so when I’m a famous photographer you’ll have something you can sell for £millions 😁 Tomorrow I head to Bridport. I will look forward to taking you with me. Love Gretel xx Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| The Mystery of Thomas Becket’s Bones:Christian spoons found in Sutton Hoo; and Pepys Buys his first Hogshead of Wine. | 06 sept. 2025 | 00:30:20 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Gretel aborts a launch into Egyptian Monasticism; and goes down a Sutton Hoo rabbit-hole | 05 sept. 2025 | 00:40:37 | |
Good evening and a very warm wishes to you this darkening Friday evening. Thank you for your support despite episodes that fail in part; such is the consequence of a daily podcast which means it’s more of a ‘blurt’ or ‘stream of consciousness’ with the aid of little-reconnoitred material. At some point do I move to one or two episodes a week, with each episode professionally presented, and prepared? It’s a thought. 💭 Now you may remember that I promised to read the whole of darling Under the Greenwood Tree by our friend Thomas Hardy to time with the Christmas period, so when to start so that the final episode is read on Christmas Day? I could either read some out every day, once we’ve concluded those three scallywags in a boat; or we could try something new and read an entire episode one night a week, such as a Sunday. What do you think, particularly my subscribers? Then from the 1st of January I’ve decided to follow Hardy with Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: a beautiful book. One idea I had is to buy each of my paid subscribers their own copy as their Christmas present, and inscribe with a fond note from me, the 🦔 🐕 and 🐅. What think ye? As for non-fiction, we must - I’m afraid - continue with the remainder of Bede’s works, but maybe instead of investigating early monasticism, I find something lighter for you. I would like to do a little more poetry. One evening could be Poetry Corner? Bless you and good night. 💤 Gretel x Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Three Men and their Boat get to Walton; We ponder St Gregory’s Mission in Kent; and Mr Robin barks at the Magpies | 04 sept. 2025 | 00:36:47 | |
I’m so sorry this is so late. I forgot to press ‘publish’ ☺️ Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| A few gentle ponders and reads from a Dorset garden. The swifts are gone but the crows 🐦⬛ are filling the vacuum 🌳 | 02 sept. 2025 | 00:33:26 | |
Hallo and thank you for joining me for this Tuesday bonus episode. With love, Gretel xx Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Poor Harris attempts his ‘Comic Song’; and Bede tells of Cuthbert’s shutting himself away, all in the delightful Dorset Drizzle 🌧️ | 02 sept. 2025 | 00:21:22 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Tiny Episode visiting St Andrews, Trent. | 01 sept. 2025 | 00:10:13 | |
Good afternoon. I’ve tried a number of times to add to this tiny episode, but all in vain, including the loss of fifteen minutes of pre-bed chitter-chatter last night. So I’ll publish this as it is and move on. There is an enormous amount of information online about this architectural and historic jewel, so please enjoy some moments of fascinating foraging online. And of course, visit if you can. Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| The Luidhard Medalet; How to deal with River Bandits; and Pepys embarks on the year 1662 | 01 sept. 2025 | 00:30:15 | |
Hello and a very good afternoon. Thank you so much for joining me. Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| Hampton Court Maze baffles Harris; You mustn’t argue with an English Person’s comment on the Weather; and we Feast Saint Aidan | 31 août 2025 | 00:37:33 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| New Technology turns Gretel Professional 🤓; a Return to Milborne Port in a Thunderstorm; and Delicious Readings | 29 août 2025 | 00:40:02 | |
Hallo and a very warm welcome to this ridiculous endeavour known as Gretel Le Maître Ponders. How are do and what are you up to? Please do feel free to email me and let me know about who you are, where you live and what your interests are. Love Gretel 🤗🙋♀️👣 Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||
| English Rules of Conversation; and how Cuthbert ruled his monks at Lindesfarne | 28 août 2025 | 00:39:10 | |
Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes. Guests include historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests. Your daily dose of calm. Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company. Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature. Please don’t expect to find a polished product. The output is lower tier but the authenticity is hopefully as good as it gets. 🦔 34,000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳 Love Gretel 🌝 | |||