Returning to the Village of Larkhope | A Gentle Bedtime Story

Tonight we leave a smoky city behind and travel north through falling snow, to a small stone village in the hills of Northumberland. For thirty-nine years Nell Hartley has kept house above her husband's grocery shop, with the shop bell ringing through every room and the snow coming down grey between the chimneys. One winter morning, at the age of fifty-eight, she decides to do one thing that is only for herself. She packs a single trunk, kisses her husband and her son at the shop door, and takes the train back to the village where she was born. What follows is a slow, gentle winter: a cold kitchen brought back to life with a shovel of borrowed embers, water drawn from under the ice, a first loaf that fails and a second that doesn't, six hens, one warm egg, a neighbour's kindness returned with tea, a great snow that closes every road, and a garden waking under the thaw. And on the high shelf of the dresser, a parcel her husband told her not to open until the house was warm. This is a calm bedtime story with no danger and no hurry, written to help you slow your thoughts, settle into the quiet of an old winter village, and drift off to sleep. STORY CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome 0:45 Grey Snow Over the City 8:06 "I Want to Go Home" 15:07 The Trunk, the Box and the Shop Bell 24:36 The Train North 31:56 Arriving in Larkhope 39:10 The First Morning 46:01 Bread, Hens and the First Egg 52:28 The Village in Winter 1:05:14 By Her Own Fire 1:11:14 The Great Snow 1:17:55 The Thaw and the Snowdrops 1:21:00 A Cow, a Garden and a Jar of Beans 1:27:36 A Warm House 1:33:57 The Last Snow of the Year 1:37:12 Two Chairs by the Fire STORY SETTING A northern English city and a hill village in Northumberland, winter into early spring, 1895. Peat fires, stone cottages, dry-stone walls, a carrier's cart, a village well, and the old country work of baking, milking and sowing. PERFECT FOR Falling asleep, quiet evenings, winding down after a long day, anxious or busy minds, listeners who love cosy historical stories, village life and gentle storytelling. If this story brought you a little peace tonight, please subscribe to Historical Sleep Stories for a new calm story every week, and tell us in the comments where you are listening from. #sleepstory #bedtimestory #bedtimestoriesforadults #sleepstoriesforadults #historicalsleepstory #cozystory #gentlestory #storytimeforsleep #relaxingstory #calmstory #fallasleepfast #deepsleep #winterstory #victorianengland #englishvillage #cottagelife #countrylife #slowliving #sleepaid #storiesforsleep