For Dan Pearson, working with the landscape isn’t simply his profession — it’s how he makes sense of the world.

In this emotional conversation, he opens up about self-image, mindfulness and the alchemy of gardening – something that can feel like magic, but is really about careful attention and a deep respect for the natural rhythms of life.

Dan fondly recalls his childhood home: a dilapidated house where wildlife knew no boundaries, with rat holes under doors and vegetation pressing up against the furniture.

Today, he lives in a modest stone farmhouse with small windows, nestled into the side of the valley, with a huge landscape that opens out in front. He and his partner cook and eat in their outdoor kitchen year-round, watching the weather roll in over Freezing Hill. At the bottom of the garden, there’s a pond for swimming or meditation. It’s the embodiment of the prospect-refuge theory.

This is an episode about humility, about living in sync with nature and understanding that as human beings, we're part of a wonderful ecosystem much larger than ourselves.

The episode was recorded at Dan’s home in Somerset.

A full tour of his garden and outbuildings is available to our Patreon community.

Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

Dan also publishes Dig Delve, an online magazine about his Somerset garden, with photography and editorial by his partner Huw Morgan.

Homing listeners can use the discount code HOMING2026 for 15% off annual or quarterly subscriptions.

Website: www.digdelve.com

Instagram: @digdelve

Dan’s personal Instagram: @coyotewillow

To hear more from us:

YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video version

Instagram: @homingwithmatt

TikTok: @homing.with.matt

Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic

Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office

Produced by @podshoponline

The full visualised home tour is available to our Patreon community.

Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

For homewares designer Matilda Goad, balance isn’t just a design principle – it’s a way of living. Her home is a reflection of that: comfortable and familiar, but full of playful touches.

Growing up in a country cottage, boredom became a lesson in invention. With her grandfather an artist and her mother a fashion designer, Matilda was surrounded by creativity from an early age and developed a strong drive to prove herself.

That ambition runs through everything she does. From designing her iconic scallop-edged lampshade to opening a new hardware store off the Pimlico Road, Matilda has a talent for taking the functional and adding a playful twist.

Her home in London is an extension of her visual identity and the backdrop to some of life’s most significant moments. Both of her children were born at home – one in the sitting room, the other in the bedroom. For Matilda, home is psychological safety: a place that can hold everything.

We talk about sensitivity to environments, using anxiety as fuel, and the discipline required to sustain creative drive. She shares practical rituals to reset, from breathwork exercises to lighting techniques, and the realities of building a business slowly and organically.

This episode is about purpose, momentum and how our homes mirror the lives we’re building.

– Matt

An extended version of the tour is available to our Patreon community.

Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

To hear more from us:

YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video version

Instagram: @homingwithmatt

TikTok: @homing.with.matt

Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic

Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office

Produced by @podshoponline

The full visualised home tour is available to our Patreon community.

Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt

For a special Christmas episode of Homing, I was invited into the home of cookery writer and ultimate host, Skye McAlpine.

Skye is like a modern-day “Mother Christmas”. She was raised between London and Venice by parents who were great bon viveurs, and her childhood home was an open house, filled with guests, conversation and celebration. It’s there that she absorbed the idea that a home is meant for sharing – a philosophy she has carried into both her life and her work.

If you follow Skye online, you’ll see that her kitchen is at the heart of everything she does; a space to cook and gather those she loves around one long table. For Skye, hosting is an expression of love, and choosing a favourite event is, in her words, “like choosing a favourite child”.

The glamorous version of her life is only one side of the story. Skye also shows me the unseen, everyday moments of life at home.

During our tour, she laughs about the dust that gathers on every surface, which makes her cough. We talk about insomnia, doomscrolling, introversion, and the importance of not letting the pressure to appear perfect stop you from putting yourself out there.

This is an episode about place, belonging, childhood, and what it really means to make people feel at home.

So before your Christmas dinners, I hope you give this episode a listen and absorb Skye’s wisdom for creating a table full of love.

This episode was filmed in person at Skye’s London Victorian townhouse.

– Matt

To hear more from us:

YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video version

Instagram: @homingwithmatt

TikTok: @homing.with.matt

Contact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.com

Matt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496

Music by @simeonwalkermusic

Identity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office

Produced by @podshoponline

The full visualised home tour is available to our Patreon community.

Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt