Gretel le Maître Ponders Beauty, with Bede & other guests

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️

Is it time to throw out the lumber?

Have we too much in our life? Too much of what we don’t need, weighing us down and hindering us from journeying lightly through our lives.  

What is it we need?  And what is it we don’t need?

If you manage to throw out some lumber, do let me know.  For every day there’s a sunrise and sunset to enjoy.  What’s stopping us from being that person we want to be?

Goodnight 🤗🌷🌊

Support the show

Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  

Don’t try to listen in order, unless you’re very committed.  Dip in and out, choosing an episode based on the title information.  Whether you are interested in history, literature, poetry or one-to-one chatting, I try to give you something that will interest you.  This is a podcast for the curious, the kind and - possibly - the suffering or lonely.  

Historian Tom Holland is the Honorary Patron of this podcast.  Thank you Tom🙏 

Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.

Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😬☺️🥴

Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...

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Helloo and thank you for honouring me with your time and company.  It’s wonderful to have you with me in my garden late on a Thursday night for  some gentle readings and companionship.  

It is by learning that we understand that we don’t know it all; and therefore not only do we enjoy having our curiosity piqued and then satisfied, but we apply this understanding of our limitations to how we relate to other people.  We are not always right; our views don’t have to remain static; and other people’s inner world is as full and valid as ours.  

Thanks to my lovely new subscriber Aidan. All my subscribers will get a Christmas present 🎁 as a thank you.  Night night,

Love Gretel xx

Support the show

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.

Previous 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. 🦔

35, 000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳

Love Gretel 🌝

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️

Support the show

Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  

Don’t try to listen in order, unless you’re very committed.  Dip in and out, choosing an episode based on the title information.  Whether you are interested in history, literature, poetry or one-to-one chatting, I try to give you something that will interest you.  This is a podcast for the curious, the kind and - possibly - the suffering or lonely.  

Historian Tom Holland is the Honorary Patron of this podcast.  Thank you Tom🙏 

Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.

Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😬☺️🥴

Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️

Good evening dear friends, subscribers and new listeners:  welcome!

This podcast seeks to rejoice in the world about us.  

Please join me on this journey of gentleness, compassion, curiosity and the absence of greed, negativity and monetary profit. 

Share your thoughts, ideas, ponders with me and let me know if I have permission to share:

How have to coped with the imminent death of someone you love?  What were your daily tools to help you get hrough?

How have you coped with grief?  With loneliness? With hardship?  

Goodnight from deepest Wessex and thank you hugely for stopping by. Please, please forward to anyone who might benefit from this endeavour. No subscription to pay or adverts to fast-forward through.  ☺️🫧🐕🌊🌞🌷🌝🪿🦔

(As I type a hedgehog has appeared by my feet! 🤗🦔)

G x

Support the show

Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  

Don’t try to listen in order, unless you’re very committed.  Dip in and out, choosing an episode based on the title information.  Whether you are interested in history, literature, poetry or one-to-one chatting, I try to give you something that will interest you.  This is a podcast for the curious, the kind and - possibly - the suffering or lonely.  

Historian Tom Holland is the Honorary Patron of this podcast.  Thank you Tom🙏 

Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.

Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😬☺️🥴

Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️

Erratum: I say it’s Monday which……. it isn’t 😬🥴

Support the show

Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  

Don’t try to listen in order, unless you’re very committed.  Dip in and out, choosing an episode based on the title information.  Whether you are interested in history, literature, poetry or one-to-one chatting, I try to give you something that will interest you.  This is a podcast for the curious, the kind and - possibly - the suffering or lonely.  

Historian Tom Holland is the Honorary Patron of this podcast.  Thank you Tom🙏 

Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.

Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😬☺️🥴

Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️

Good evening and welcome to this episode where we conclude looking at E Brontë‘s startling novel, that takes an evening to read and a lifetime to digest.

Like the clouds above the moors, like her brother, father, sisters and friends, Emily understands perhaps that we human animals are creatures of ever shape and time-shifting forms.  Our characters are best understood in the glimpses offered by of interactions with people and places. It’s a novel for me that offers up such snapshots as though her job as author was merely to skim off the stuff that rose to the top: the rest is visible to her but invisible not only to us but to her characters themselves. As in life where the motives of others are invisible to us. ‘Here is all is: make of it what you will’ she cries, laughing and stepping out of herself and the conventions that surround her. A freedom only truly to be found outside of life.

Support the show

Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  

Don’t try to listen in order, unless you’re very committed.  Dip in and out, choosing an episode based on the title information.  Whether you are interested in history, literature, poetry or one-to-one chatting, I try to give you something that will interest you.  This is a podcast for the curious, the kind and - possibly - the suffering or lonely.  

Historian Tom Holland is the Honorary Patron of this podcast.  Thank you Tom🙏 

Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.

Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😬☺️🥴

Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️

Good evening, I would be so honoured if you would join me for a long half an hour of gentle ponderings and readings, as we sit in a Dorset garden, and rejoice in the big skies and merry crows, while grieving the flight of the swifts to warmer lands. Let’s hope the fledglings survive, to return next year to the golden sheltered eaves of Sherborne School. 

Thank you to dear Bijan Omrani for permitting me to read from his stunning book ‘God is an Englishman’.  

Thank you dear Michele for the thoughtful present which I will always cherish, and for the lovely messages, including from Anne.  I wish you well on your journey to happier lands. 

.We can’t always dictate the direction of the journey we are on, but we have much power over the small, daily steps that we take.  Tiny decisions: to spend ten minutes a day reading before getting dressed; five minutes each evening sitting outside to catch the first stars and bat; to not say or do anything that casts shame or blame on another person: all these things we can do.  

Goodnight and best wishes 🦉 🐦‍⬛ 🦇 

Support the show

Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  

Don’t try to listen in order, unless you’re very committed.  Dip in and out, choosing an episode based on the title information.  Whether you are interested in history, literature, poetry or one-to-one chatting, I try to give you something that will interest you.  This is a podcast for the curious, the kind and - possibly - the suffering or lonely.  

Historian Tom Holland is the Honorary Patron of this podcast.  Thank you Tom🙏 

Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.

Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😬☺️🥴

Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...

Send us a text

Good evening and thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you to my new subscriber Majorie: I really appreciate your support so very much.  

If you have time and appreciate anything about this funny old podcast, I would love it if you would kindly rate the podcast, or give it a thumbs up; perhaps send an episode to a friend who is isolated, grieving, or might be appreciative of the eclectic and home-spun (unprofessional 🫣) style.  Most days I get sent offers of in-podcast ads that would bring a little income but I turn all down - as I always will - in order to keep this an uninterrupted piece of authenticity.  But there is a way to support me, by clicking on ‘support the podcast’ and donate the smallest amount you like as a one-off or per month.  Thank you for those that do and a few times a year I’ll send something small in the post as a thank you.  

Some items for the future:

1. Conversation with art historian Philip Mould

2. Conversation with BBC journalist John Smith

3. A visit to the private quarters of Windsor Castle

4. All of Hardy’s Under the Greenwood Tree, as our Book for Advent

5. More from: the Brontes, Dickens, Hardy, Sayers and other loved authors and poets

6. A visit to Kent

7. One day cricket at Lord’s

8. Visits to more of England’s main cathedrals and Abbeys

9. A conversation with Angela Tilby

10. A pilgrimage to the land of Bede, and more of his works

Support the show

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.

Previous 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. 🦔

35, 000 All-time Downloads since October 2024 🥳

Love Gretel 🌝

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️

Hello and welcome to today’s episode.  Thank you so much for supporting this endeavour, with all its warts and all.  

Love Gretel xx 🪿

Support the show

Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  

Don’t try to listen in order, unless you’re very committed.  Dip in and out, choosing an episode based on the title information.  Whether you are interested in history, literature, poetry or one-to-one chatting, I try to give you something that will interest you.  This is a podcast for the curious, the kind and - possibly - the suffering or lonely.  

Historian Tom Holland is the Honorary Patron of this podcast.  Thank you Tom🙏 

Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.

Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😬☺️🥴

Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️

Welcome and thank you do much for your company 🌞

Support the show

Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  

Don’t try to listen in order, unless you’re very committed.  Dip in and out, choosing an episode based on the title information.  Whether you are interested in history, literature, poetry or one-to-one chatting, I try to give you something that will interest you.  This is a podcast for the curious, the kind and - possibly - the suffering or lonely.  

Historian Tom Holland is the Honorary Patron of this podcast.  Thank you Tom🙏 

Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.

Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😬☺️🥴

Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...