Gretel le Maître Ponders

By Gretel le MaîtreSociety & Culture Arts Books History Places & Travel

Gretel le Maître Ponders episodes

October 25, 2025 Anglo-Saxon Mood Music with Chastisement and Ruin
Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️

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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 90,000 downloads.

I suggest you 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; Historian (and ...
37 min
October 24, 2025 Churches Galore as Gretel steps into the ancient space of St John the Evangelist, Milborne Port, and continues with Bell Practice at Snowy Fenchurch St Paul
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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 🌝

36 min
October 23, 2025Wimsey agrees to Ring Treble Bob 🔔; Old Mother’s Recipes; and A Corpse in a Grand Procession
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Hello and a very happy Thursday to you wherever you are.
I know I have regular listeners in America, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, The Russian Federation and Czechia. Do say hello via my email: [email protected]. I would love to hear about you.
Extracts from St Cuthbert’s Corpse: A Life After Death published by Sacristy Press are copyright © David Willem. Copies of his book are available fromhttps://www.sacristy.co.uk/book/cuthberts-corpse.

Do you have a piece of music you would like me to play? An extract from a book to read? A poem? A message to a loved one?
And do check X and BlueSky for a teeny poll I’m putting out.
Thank you to everyone. Especially to you who help fund this little (mis?) adventure? No one need ever feel obliged to pay and there will never be ads or subscriptions.
Lots of love and adieu for today ☺️🍁🌳🦔🥳
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 🌝
45 min
October 22, 2025 Jerusalem, Donatus and a close to Bede’s Life of Cuthbert; The Nine Tailors, The Decorated and Sir Walter Scott. A Veritable Feast!
Send us a text
Extracts from St Cuthbert’s Corpse: A Life After Death published by Sacristy Press are copyright © David Willem. Copies of his book are available fromhttps://www.sacristy.co.uk/book/cuthberts-corpse.
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 🌝

43 min
October 21, 2025 We begin The Nine Tailors; Discuss Cuthbert’s Remains; Hear of Pepys’ Maths Lessons; and Ponder Grief
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Hello and welcome to tonight’s episode, where we turn our backs to the lighter days and face with chins high the winter months ahead, by beginning The Nine Tailors, one of Dorothy L Sayers’ finest novels. Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you are well.
Extracts from St Cuthbert’s Corpse: A Life After Death published by Sacristy Press are copyright © David Willem. Copies of his book are available fromhttps://www.sacristy.co.uk/book/cuthberts-corpse.

Lots of love 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 🌝

55 min
October 20, 2025 The Evolution of Church Architecture; Saint Frideswide and Gretel climbs a Bell Tower 🔔
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 90,000 downloads.

I suggest you 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; Historian (and ...
37 min
October 19, 2025 October Ponderings; Celtic Manuscripts; Cuthbert’s Miracles; and Valiant Hearts
Send us a text
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 🌝

53 min
October 18, 2025 Under Pressure; in Defence of our Forbears; Gretel seeks Work; and Warwick places the Crown on the King’s Head but is not Kingmaker He
Send us a text
Dear lovely friends, team-mates, subscribers and newcomers. Thank you for joining me at this early hour. 🤗
G x
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 🌝

51 min
October 16, 2025 Theresa of Avila; Columba the warrior; and Dorothy L Sayers takes us to the Ball
Send us a text
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 🌝

48 min
October 16, 2025 A Somerset church and wonderful May; Goats, cows, sheep abound; and Pepys whips his poor boy until he own up to his lies
Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️
Hello and thank you so much for joining me this balmy October Thursday. There will be two episodes today: in this one we go church exploring; the second one we will catch up with the literature.

I hope you are well and coping with all life’s challenges. Thank you for your lovely emails. 😊

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 90,000 downloads.

I suggest you 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; Historian (and ...
34 min

About Gretel le Maître Ponders

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Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities. She shares with you passages from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new…