The Sleepy Innkeeper — Sleep Stories

Tonight, we'll spend All Hallows' Eve in a small river village, where a gentle schoolmaster helps with the last apple pressing and walks home by lantern light with friends.

In Linden Vale, Silas carves turnip lanterns with the village children while they tell him about the lantern rider, who lights late travellers home. Then the school walks down to Orchard End, where old Mabel shows him the apple press and the miller plays slow tunes on his fiddle. Nothing much happens. The juice runs gold, the lanterns glow along the barn beams, and a few friends walk home together under the full moon.

This is a cosy Halloween, not a scary one: candlelight, apples and a kind old story, told in a calm, slow voice. The story and the sleep affirmations last about 40 minutes, and soft, warm music carries on after that for about three hours in all, so you can drift off without touching your phone. At 11 minutes the screen fades to black, so the room stays dark while you sleep.

More sleep stories
Sleep Stories — Full Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPxz_xPaTxZo

If this story helped you rest, The Sleepy Innkeeper has more quiet places to fall asleep in the playlist, and subscribing means the next one will be waiting for you.

#sleepstory #bedtimestory #halloween #fullmoon #lanternlight

Tonight, we'll drive through a thunderstorm to Elderhurst Manor, an old house on a hill that keeps rooms for travellers, where a kind host sets candles in the windows on Halloween night.

Harriet arrives at Elderhurst Manor in a thunderstorm, and Mrs Fairley has the porch door open before she reaches the bell. There are pumpkin and turnip lanterns in the porch, soul cakes in a tin by the door, and a ginger cat called Marmalade asleep in a bowl of walnuts. Every small sound in the old house turns out to have a kind reason. Nothing much happens. The storm stays on the far side of the valley.

This is a cosy Halloween, not a scary one: candlelight, rain and old customs, told in a calm, slow voice. The story and the sleep affirmations last about 37 minutes, and soft music carries on after that for about three hours in all, so you can drift off without touching your phone. At 11 minutes the screen fades to black, so the room stays dark while you sleep.

More sleep stories
Sleep Stories — Full Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPxz_xPaTxZo

If tonight's story helped you rest, The Sleepy Innkeeper has more quiet places to fall asleep in the playlist.

#sleepstory #bedtimestory #halloween #thunderstorm #cosyhalloween

Tonight, we'll step off the last train into a foggy market town in 1890 and spend a gentle Halloween night by the parlour fire at the Wheatsheaf Inn.

Lydia, a young governess on her way to a new post, is met at Hawksby station by old Ned and his handcart. In the inn kitchen, Polly hands her a turnip to carve, and Ned tells how the Wheatsheaf got its name. After supper, children in paper crowns and bedsheets come singing at the door, and Polly shows Lydia how to roast hazelnuts on the grate. Nothing much happens. The fog settles, and Lydia sleeps at the top of the old inn.

This is a cosy Halloween, not a scary one: turnip lanterns, firelight, apples and old parlour customs, told in a calm, slow voice. The story and the sleep affirmations last nearly 40 minutes, and soft music carries on after that for about three hours in all, so you can drift off without touching your phone. At 11 minutes the screen fades to black, so the room stays dark while you sleep.

More sleep stories
Sleep Stories — Full Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPxz_xPaTxZo

If this story helped you rest, The Sleepy Innkeeper has more quiet places to fall asleep in the playlist, and subscribing means the next one will be waiting for you.

#sleepstory #bedtimestory #halloween #victorian #foggynight

Tonight, we'll board a small white ferry on the coast of Norway, on a midsummer night so still that the mountains lie upside down in the water, and let the ship carry us north while we sleep.

Ingrid has driven the coast road every summer for years. This year she takes the night ferry Kjelberg instead: cabin twelve, a grey wool blanket, a porthole beside the pillow. Nils takes her ticket, Marit serves fish soup in the saloon, and crates of strawberries go ashore quay by quay while the sky never quite gets dark. Nothing much happens. The engine hums, the water goes along the hull, and for one night somebody else does the carrying.

This is a slow, calming sleep story about being carried, read in a calm, deep voice at an unhurried pace. The story and the sleep affirmations last about 36 minutes, and soft sea music carries on to the end. Around 5 minutes in, the fjord gives way to a starry sky, and at 11 minutes the screen fades to black, so the room stays dark while you sleep.

If this story helped you rest, The Sleepy Innkeeper has more quiet places to fall asleep in the playlist, and subscribing means the next one will be ready when you are.

#sleepstory #bedtimestory #ferry #fjords #norway

Tonight, we'll spend the first frosty evening at Ashby Mill, carving turnip lanterns by the range while Agnes passes the old harvest customs on to her grandson.

The wheel stops for the first frost, and Agnes and her grandson Tobias scrape out turnips at the kitchen table. She tells him about the harvest fires on the hills and the coals carried home in hollowed turnips. They fetch pumpkins from the frosty garden, set lanterns along the window sills and the mill steps, and watch the village light up for Lantern Night. Nothing much happens. The stream goes on, and Tobias falls asleep on the settle.

This is a cosy Halloween, not a scary one: candlelight, frost and old customs, told in a calm, slow voice. The story and the sleep affirmations last about 40 minutes, and soft music carries on after that for about three hours in all, so you can drift off without touching your phone. At 11 minutes the screen fades to black, so the room stays dark while you sleep.

More sleep stories
Sleep Stories — Full Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPxz_xPaTxZo

If this story helped you rest, The Sleepy Innkeeper has more quiet places to fall asleep in the playlist, and subscribing means the next one will be waiting for you.

#sleepstory #bedtimestory #halloween #turniplantern #watermill

Tonight, we'll spend a foggy day in Porth Ansell, a small harbour village on the Cornish coast, where Edmund tends the old fog bell and very little else happens.

Edmund has looked after the Porth Ansell fog bell for twenty-two years. When the third mark across the harbour disappears, it's a bell day: seventy-four steps up to the whitewashed hut on the headland, sixty turns of the crank, three drops of oil, a line in the log. Jago mends his crab pots, the wireless gives the shipping forecast, and the bell sounds once every thirty seconds until the fog thins and the marks come back in their proper order. Nothing much happens.

This is a slow, quiet sleep story about the comfort of routine, read in a calm, deep voice at an unhurried pace. The story and the sleep affirmations last about 41 minutes, and soft music carries on to the end. Around 5 minutes in, the harbour gives way to a starry sky, and at 11 minutes the screen fades to black, so the room stays dark while you sleep.

More sleep stories
Sleep Stories — Full Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPxz_xPaTxZo

If this story helped you rest, The Sleepy Innkeeper has more quiet places to fall asleep in the playlist.

#sleepstory #bedtimestory #fog #cornwall #quietlife

Tonight, we'll take the afternoon ferry to a small island, where an old inn among the heather has been expecting a guest and the kettle is already on.

Morag meets Callum on the porch of the Heathergate Inn with heather honey and a peat fire. There is a box bed under the roof, a bench on the headland with the sheep, a pebble that goes into his pocket, and Angus's lantern rowing out to the creels and coming home after dark. Nothing much happens. The wind moves over the heather, and the place turns out to have been ready long before he arrived.

This is a slow, gentle sleep story about being expected, read in a calm, deep voice at an unhurried pace. The story and the sleep affirmations last about 40 minutes. After that, soft sea music continues until the end so you can drift off without touching your phone. Around 5 minutes in, the view over the bay gives way to a starry sky, and at 11 minutes the screen fades to black, so the room stays dark while you sleep.

More sleep stories
Sleep Stories — Full Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPxz_xPaTxZo

If this story helped you rest, The Sleepy Innkeeper has more quiet places to fall asleep in the playlist, and subscribing means the next one will be waiting for you.

#sleepstory #bedtimestory #island #sea #innkeeper

Tonight, we'll walk the length of a small harbour as the tide goes out, and come home with two dogs to a stone cottage where the range has burned down to embers.

Marlowe walks the quay at Saltrigg with Finn, an old lurcher, and Biscuit, a small terrier who takes the tideline very seriously. Three fishing boats settle onto the mud as the water draws back, Hedley mends his net on an upturned fish box, and the cottage at the end of the quay is waiting with chamomile in the pot and embers in the range. Nothing much happens. The tide goes out, the boats lean over and rest, and the water comes back in the dark while everyone is asleep.

This is a slow, quiet sleep story about the tide going out, read in a calm, deep voice. The story and the sleep affirmations last about 47 minutes. After that, soft sea music continues until the end so you can drift off without touching your phone. At 5 minutes the screen changes to a dark, starry sky, and at 11 minutes it fades to black, so the room stays dark while you sleep.

If this story helped you rest, The Sleepy Innkeeper has more quiet places to fall asleep in the playlist, and subscribing means the next one will be there when you need it.

#sleepstory #bedtimestory #harbour #cottage #dogs #rain

Tonight, we'll follow a narrow path up to a small stone cottage on the headland, where a storm is working at the cliffs and a man is reading his way through a tin of old letters.

A man has inherited the cottage from a distant relation he never met, a painter who lived above the sea for nearly fifty years. He found the tin on the top shelf of the wardrobe, and he reads the letters one at a time beside the fire while the rain runs down the dark glass. She arrives on the island in the autumn and stays. She learns the light. She marries Finbar. She grows old in the same low rooms. Nothing much happens. The fire settles, the kettle is filled, and the sea keeps finding the rocks below the window.

This is a slow, gentle sleep story about a life looked back on, read in a calm, deep voice. The story and the closing drift last about forty nine minutes, and soft warm music carries on to the end, so you can drift off without touching your phone. At 5 minutes the screen slowly changes to a dark, starry sky, and at 11 minutes it fades to black, so the room stays dark while you sleep.

If this story helped you rest, The Sleepy Innkeeper has more quiet places to fall asleep in the playlist, and subscribing means the next one will be waiting for you.

#sleepstory #bedtimestory #cottage #storm #sea #rest

Tonight, we'll follow a wet lane between the orchards to an old inn called the Hearthstone, where autumn rain has settled on the roof for the night and nothing much is going to happen.

Calla steps off the bus into steady October rain and walks the river lane to the Hearthstone, where Mrs Hawthorn opens the door before she reaches it and a beeswax candle stands in the window without a flicker. There is apple cake in the kitchen with Sene, a room under the slates where the rain is directly overhead, and a covered way across the yard to the apple store, where Rook lays the harvest out on dry racks and says the roof is the whole trade. Nothing much happens. Soup by the range, knitting by the hearth, and a bed under a good roof while the rain keeps on.

This is a slow, gentle sleep story about shelter, read in a calm, deep voice. The story and the sleep affirmations last about 42 minutes, and soft warm music carries on to the end, so you can drift off without touching your phone. At 5 minutes the screen changes to a starry sky, and at 11 minutes it fades to black, so the room stays dark while you sleep.

If this story helped you rest, The Sleepy Innkeeper has more quiet places to fall asleep in the playlist, and subscribing means the next one will be waiting for you.

• #sleepstory #bedtimestory #inn #rain #autumn #rest