Gretel le Maître Ponders Beauty, with Bede & other guests

Gretel le Maître Ponders Beauty, with Bede & other guests

Now 1000 downloads per week, Total 36, 000 downloads Regular top ten spot in 3 categories GoodPods Ranked in Top 10 % of Global Rankings (Listen Notes) No ads, team or subscription cost Daily output Script-free* 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. Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time; the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free, and you’re invited to join in. It’s super unpolished and Gretel would be grateful for you to forgive her for that. 🤓 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 treasure up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts. Please follow me on X @gretellemaitre. 🌳 Or email me: gretellem@yahoo.com Guests on this show include Tom Holland, Philip Mould, Bijan Omrani and Enzo Cicenti. “The podcast combines historical reflections and extracts from literature with her own musings on architecture, literature, and the natural world. Gretel approaches these deep topics with warmth and humor, aiming to provide listeners a comforting space to explore complex emotions. If you’re interested, you can listen to her podcast on platforms like Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music, where she shares her reflections in episodes filled with historical and literary insights. Hosted by Gretel Le Maitre, this unique podcast blends personal storytelling with historical insights from figures like the Venerable Bede, offering listeners an inspiring journey of healing and hope. With themes of grief, transformation, and spirituality, the podcast has earned praise for its calming tone, authenticity, and ability to connect on a deeply human level. As one listener shared, it feels like sitting down with a trusted friend who understands. Perfect for audiences seeking introspection, comfort, or simply a quiet moment of reflection, Gretel le Maître Ponders is available now on all major platforms.

Episodes

November 5, 2025 19 mins

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Thank you for joining me dear friends and newcomers.  Onwards we walk, gently and with love, one day at a time.  Curiosity about the world and its history and its wonders, is the watchword.  


Today we read George Eliot  and and Old English poem The Wanderer.  Mr Katt makes a star appearance 🤭

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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 y...

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Hello and thank you so much for joining me this evening.  

It’s an honour to have your company 🤗🥳🍂

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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.


Gretel invites you to accompa...

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November 3, 2025 37 mins

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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.


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

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November 2, 2025 24 mins

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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.


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

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October 31, 2025 6 mins

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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.


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

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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.


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

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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.


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

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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.  😊

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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 ...

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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.


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

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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.  😀🌳🍂

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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 fr...

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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.  

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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...

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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.


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

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October 1, 2025 43 mins

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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! 🤗🍂🦔

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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 litera...

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September 29, 2025 7 mins

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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.  😊

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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 ...

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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.


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

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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 ...

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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.


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

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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.


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

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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!  😄

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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...

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A poem by Henry Noel (Elizabethan   

Courtier)


Gaze not on Swans

Gaze not on swans in whose soft breast
A full hatcht beauty seems to nest,
Nor snow which falling from the sky,
Hovers in its virginity.

Gaze not on roses though new blown
Grac’d with a fresh complexion,
Nor lilly which no subtle bee
Hath rob'd by kissing chemistry.

Gaze not on that pure milky way
Where ...

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