“I hugged a very girthy tree!” Get off screens, write letters, and paint

How are we feeling gang? What are you happy about, and what’s making you not so happy? Fearne’s back with more chatter about what’s putting her and the Happy Place team in a good mood this week, and what can absolutely get in the bin. This is a lovely little space for all of us to explore what’s been on our minds. Want to join the chat? Send us a voicenote, DM, or comment on Instagram @happyplaceofficial! In this chat, Fearne covers: -Feeling stupid when you’re with really clever people -Why we should properly get into tree hugging -Painting by numbers to get away from screens -Not RSVPing being rude... but also don’t say yes if you’re not going to go -Bringing back letter writing -One of Team Happy Place reckoning Harry Hill is fit* *watch the Stewart Lee episode of Harry Hill’s podcast on Spotify to see the moment in question Child on the line is a three-part documentary podcast series celebrating the Volunteer Counsellors of Childline, and the brave children & young people who contact the helpline service. Listen here: https://www.childonthelinepodcast.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Hi, I'm Natalie Dormer and I'm proud to be an ambassador for Childline. This year, Childline turns 40. To mark it, I've made Child on the Line, a three-part documentary podcast. We hear why children needed a helpline in 1986, how it was built against the odds and the challenges children face today, from abuse and mental health to social media and AI. Search Child on the Line and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of the best one yet.

• 0:32Speaker 02

  Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer.

• 0:37Speaker 01

  With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work.

• 0:49Speaker 02

  That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about.

• 0:53Speaker 01

  Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 1:00Speaker 02

  That's goo.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 1:04Speaker 03

  At Lowe's, this Veterans Day and every day, military members, veterans, and their spouses get automatic MyLowe's Rewards Silver Status benefits. Plus, 10% off eligible purchases with no annual limit. It's one way we honor and give back to those who have served and still do. Learn more and verify now at lowe's.com/military. 10% discount can't be combined with another offer. Exclusions, terms, and conditions apply. Loyalty program subject to terms and conditions. Details at lowe's.com/terms. Subject to change.

• 1:33Speaker 04

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• 2:07Fearne Cotton?

  I urge you today, if you're near a tree, to go and hug it. I think everyone's got an arty bone in them somewhere. We searched for the biggest tree we could find. It was a girthy old guy. This is going to be a curveball you didn't see coming. Harry Hill swimming. We should have an art club. Happy Place Art Club. Hannah is livid that people don't RSVP to plans. I get it. That usually lasts about half an hour before my true self emerges. And that true self is someone that doesn't like to leave the house. Harry Hill is apparently ripped. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Happy Place. I hope that you are good today. I'm in a relatively cheerful mood. Maybe you can tell because I'm wearing all red, like a little cherry tomato.

• 2:50Fearne Cotton?

  But I hope that we find you well and happy today. And if not, don't worry, you will come out the other side of it. We're going to talk about things today that make us happy and not so happy, as we have been doing. And there's some good ones. I want to kick straight off, slightly self-indulgently, with my own because we'll get to other members of Team Happy Place in a bit. But last night, I pushed through a sort of a bit of social anxiety, which I was feeling. I go through definitely periods of wanting to hibernate at this time of year. And yesterday I was feeling really fatigued and knackered and like I couldn't deal with seeing other humans. But I was, and I sound like an absolute twat, even deliberating whether I was going to go to this or not.

• 3:35Fearne Cotton?

  Because of course I did. But I got invited to a documentary premiere at Windsor Castle. And it's this amazing documentary that the King has created, all about the environment. And I think you can watch it on Prime pretty soon. And it's an amazing documentary. I loved it. And actually, I had a jolly evening. I was sat next to Hannah Fry, who I'm sort of mildly obsessed with, feeling like really stupid all night. You know, your insecurity starts peaking when you're chatting to someone really clever. Her brain is outrageous. But anyway, we had a little gossip. We watched this brilliant documentary and it's all about harmony and harmony in nature and harmony between us and nature. And there were several things that I liked about it. One was that it wasn't a documentary

• 4:20Fearne Cotton?

  that put all the emphasis on us as individuals, like you should be doing better, you need to recycle everything, you're failing, you're ruining the planet. That wasn't the feeling of it at all. If anything, it was certainly His Royal Highness, the King, saying, you know, this is what I'm trying to do. And he even was saying, you know, in his small way, but the things that he's done for the environment are quite exceptional. If you watch this documentary, you'll see some amazing projects like Dumfries House, which is a great example of community and environment being intertwined. And looking at other projects globally where, you know, huge amounts of land have been changed from arid soil

• 5:00Fearne Cotton?

  to beautiful lush verdant green meadows. It was astonishing and it was hopeful. That's what I'm getting at. It was a hopeful documentary about the environment, but it didn't exclude the horrors that we know exist and the decline and climate change, et cetera. So me and my friend Claire the other day, with this in mind, because I knew I was going to this documentary, had a really nice walk and it was sort of, it was dusk. I like walking at dusk. The sun was setting, you know, as early as it is at this time of year. And we were mooching through this very dense bit of woodland. And Claire said, I think she was sort of half joking, she's like, should we just go and hug a

• 5:40Fearne Cotton?

  tree? And I was like, I would love to go and hug a tree. I don't know if I've ever actually done it. It's sort of like a, I don't know, perhaps seen as like a cheesy, naff thing to do. I urge you today, if you're near a tree, to go and hug it. We searched for the biggest tree we could find. It was a girthy old guy. And we found this big old tree and we both hugged it. And there was something so calming to my nervous system about wrapping my arms around this beautiful, big, probably, you know, 100 year old tree and just being near it. It was so lovely. And we take trees for granted. We just walk past them on a walk, don't even talk about them, acknowledge

• 6:22Fearne Cotton?

  them. And they're doing all of this beautiful work the whole time, communicating with other trees, you know, going through all of the seasons and shedding leaves and growing buds. And we could hear all of these parakeets that were tweeting, because there's lots of parakeets near where I live. And it was just a beautiful moment and something very, very simple. So I urge you, don't worry about what other people think if you, they walk past you and you're hugging a tree. Go for it. Trees this week are making me very, very happy. Now, what's making Team Happy Place happy? Lana from Team Happy Place, who is the most efficient, organised person I've ever met in my life. Everyone needs a Lana. She is really enjoying at the moment, painting by numbers.

• 7:06Fearne Cotton?

  And again, a simple pleasure, something that is methodical and calming to the nervous system to get us to slow down a little bit. And more importantly, Lana says, to get us away from screens. Lana is on her laptop a lot, coordinating all the stuff that we're doing at Happy Place. So for her to have a little moment of calm in the evenings, and I think pretty much all weekend, she did painting by numbers. It's just a lovely way. And also, painting by numbers is really good if you don't feel that you're necessarily artistic. I think everyone's got an arty bone in them somewhere. But if you don't think, or you've never tried painting before, I would say paint by numbers is a really good place to start.

• 7:48Fearne Cotton?

  My mum is another good example of someone who uses painting to feel mentally better. My dad is an incredible artist. He was a sign writer for his whole career. He's exceptionally talented at painting cars and landscapes. My mum didn't ever feel like she had any sort of artistic qualities, but they started going to an art club together. I think it was a couple of years ago now, and it's so adorable. Every week she sends me a little picture of what she's painted. It's usually people. So I think, was it Vivian Westwood last week, or it was someone, or maybe it was Twiggy? She likes painting sort of iconic women in fashion, or just iconic women. And she's getting so much from learning techniques and just giving it a go.

• 8:33Fearne Cotton?

  And painting is always, I mean, I love painting. Painting is always wonderful because there's something to see at the end of it. And it doesn't matter if it's of a, you know, in inverted commas, good standard or not. It's like, did you enjoy making it? But there is something really special about having a finished product at the end. And it's a big reminder to me, Lana saying, painting by numbers, that I need to get my paintbrushes out because I've not painted probably for about a year now. Which is too long and I, I get so much from painting. I love painting portraits. So I've posted a couple of them on my Instagram page over the years, but I get a massive kick out of it. And there's probably not another activity that can make my brain almost flatline,

• 9:18Fearne Cotton?

  where I don't really have many thoughts. I'm just so in this focused zone of concentration. So I would say this week, hug a tree, get your pens and paper out or your paintbrushes and do something arty just for you. We should have, we should have an art club, Happy Place Art Club. Am I just like putting more work out there that nobody else wants to be doing? We should do a Happy Place Art Club where you send in your pictures that you've painted. I'm putting that out there. Keep this in the edit and let's do Happy Place Art Club. We need another Instagram handle. Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Team Happy Place, but I think we should do it. Also, can I just do an aside, something that's making Amelia, who's giggling

• 9:59Fearne Cotton?

  in the corner, happy this week? This is going to be a curve ball you didn't see coming. Harry Hill swimming. In Amelia, I can hear Basil laughing behind the wall. In Amelia's words, fit. Harry Hill is, is apparently ripped. I mean, look at this picture. I mean, it's a ludicrous picture. He's got his goggles on. It's so unexpected. It's just unexpected, which is really like presumptuous of us. Of course, 61. Look at those biceps and those shoulder muscles. We're objectifying Harry Hill right now. I

• 10:40Fearne Cotton?

  didn't even know I was going to do this. Here we go. Took an unexpected turn, this podcast. Go on, Harry Hill. Right, let's talk about things that we're not happy about. Let's start with Team Happy Place. Who said people not RSVPing to plans out of the team? Is that Hannah? So wonderful Hannah runs Happy Place Book Club. And if you're not a member of our book club, join. It's really simple. You just need to follow us on Instagram at Happy Place Book Club and we do a book a month. And Hannah runs the whole operation. She's exceptional and she's always passing brilliant books my way. Hannah is livid that people don't RSVP to plans. I get it. I don't like that either. I'm someone, I'm a Virgo, whether you believe in the Zodiac

• 11:22Fearne Cotton?

  stuff or not, I think many Virgos like order and we like to know, this is what I'm doing on Tuesday, this is how Wednesday's gonna run, are we going out Thursday? Now, what I've had to get better at myself over the years is saying no to things that I know I don't wanna go to. Because what I've done previously, and this has probably been not the case for the last year, because I'm trying to change for the better, but I used to say yes to everything, thinking, I should go, I might, you know, it might further my career, or I should go because I might meet someone interesting, or I should go because I feel bad letting them down, like whatever reason, it was rarely because I wanted to go. And I would say yes, and then I'd get to the day, and then I would start dreading

• 12:07Fearne Cotton?

  it and thinking, how do I get out of this? Should I say I'm ill, I've got a migraine, I need to go and get one of the kids from school? I'd think of every conceivable excuse, and then let that person down, which is so much worse than just saying no in the first place. Also, sometimes, and this was kind of like the Windsor Castle thing, sometimes I RSVP when I'm in a social mood, like every now and again, I'm in a real like peoply mood, I'm like, that's exciting, I'm gonna wear that dress, this is gonna be fun. That usually lasts for about half an hour before my true self emerges, and that true self is someone that doesn't like to leave the house. And then I've got to deal with either just pushing through and going, or letting people down on the day. But at the very least,

• 12:50Fearne Cotton?

  everybody, can we just RSVP? Whether it's a yes or a no, don't leave people hanging, it's bloody rude, all right? RSVP all the way, especially for Hannah. So if Hannah Twig invites you out, just say yes or no. The other thing that I'm gonna put out there is the death of letter writing. That's my thing that's making me sad this week. Now, my friend Claire, who is a brilliantly intelligent, loquacious woman, she loves to write a letter, whether I've bought her a gift, or we've been out for dinner, or we've had a lovely day together, she always sends me- A thank you note, but she is probably the only person that does that.

• 13:32Fearne Cotton?

  And I'm not throwing shade on all of my other friends, but it is such a lovely thing to receive in the post and I'm trying to get better at it myself. Writing people little thank you cards, writing people just little notes to say, I love you, I'm thinking of you. It's just, it's actually very nice to do it yourself, to sit there with a pen. I'm like, how do I hold this thing? Crikey. But to write with actual handwriting on either a beautiful card or buying some lovely writing paper. But my God, it is so amazing to receive a letter in the post with a handwritten envelope. You instantly know this is not a bill. I've not done something wrong.

• 14:14Fearne Cotton?

  This is not something from the council about some annoying building that's going to be built at the end of my road. It's a lovely letter from somebody that loves you. So I'm sad about the death of letter writing. And also Gilli Cooper, who died last year, was a big, big letter writer. Claire, my friend, actually received a letter from her because Claire used to work at Tatler many years ago. And Gilli is, she was like a serial letter writer. So Claire's got many of these letters that were written and I think she had very, very tiny and quite erratic handwriting apparently. And she had headed paper that may have had dogs on or animals or something. And one of my other friends, Georgia, received a card from her last year before she passed

• 14:58Fearne Cotton?

  away and it was a cat card with like a miniature card inside it. But she would constantly be writing letters. And I think an ode to Gilli should be that we get out some nice writing paper and today we make a patch with ourselves that we're going to write at least one of our friends a letter. And we can keep the Royal Mail going as well then, can't we? Like get some stamps, post that letter off. I think it's a lovely thing to do. But to be the receiver, the beneficiary of a letter, I don't think there's a better feeling. So the death of letters is making me sad and that is an issue that we can very easily rectify. Let's have a quick breeze through the list to see if there's any other moans that we've got on our team at the moment. People who don't cover their mouth when they cough on

• 15:43Fearne Cotton?

  public transport, or just in general, is that you?

• 15:46Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 15:46Fearne Cotton?

  Amelia, has that been something that's been bugging you this week?

• 15:49Speaker 06

  Every day.

• 15:50Fearne Cotton?

  It is gross, because also you don't want to see into someone's mouth, let alone the germs that are quite literally spraying across the room.

• 15:59Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 16:00Fearne Cotton?

  Who does that, by the way?

• 16:01Speaker 06

  No, I don't know if people think that you can't see them do it as well.

• 16:05Fearne Cotton?

  We can see you and we can hear you. There's many techniques to covering your mouth when you're coughing. Keep your gob shut is the other one. Keep your gob shut, mate. Coughing without a hand over your mouth is grim. Is that really riling you?

• 16:21Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 16:22Fearne Cotton?

  Yeah. No, and there's a lot of, I mean, I had some awful flu-y thing over New Year. Felt like shit. So I thought, I'm in the clear, I'm fine, I'm not going to have any illnesses. And then both my kids were quite ill last week. And you know when you feel on the cusp of getting a cold? So I have been absolutely ploughing through the vitamin C. And I think I'm on the up again. I'm going to be okay, guys. I know you're worried. I'm going to be fine. But what we don't need is idiots coughing in our faces. Okay. So a simple tip from dear Amelia. Amelia runs, by the way, Happy Place Social Media, just so you really get to know the team. Basil, who I keep referencing out there. Basil, what is your official job title these days?

• 17:04Fearne Cotton?

  He doesn't know. He does sound and camera-y stuff. We have producer Anushka, who is very heavily on sound and editing of this podcast, as well as helping us get the scripts together for all the advertising. I'm probably going into too much detail here. Basil, he's a bit of, you're a jack of all trades, aren't you Baz? Or let's call you a polymath, how about that? He's doing it all, cameras, setting up, editing video. So hopefully during these episodes, you feel you're getting to know our amazing team, more and more. There's more members, they'll come into play at some point. I love team Happy Place so much. I'm so lucky. Best team on the bloody planet.

• 17:46Fearne Cotton?

  So we will continue doing these episodes where we talk about things that are putting us firmly in our happy place and the things that are really taking us out of our happy place. If you've got things that you want to vent, things that are making you feel great and buzzed up, or things that are making you feel like shite, let us know. You can head to the main Happy Place Instagram, which is at Happy Place Official. And let us know, how about that? Alongside our new Art Club one that we're going to start doing. Exciting. I think we're going to do it. Guys, thank you so much for listening. I love you all dearly. Goodbye.

• 18:46Speaker 01

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet.

• 18:48Speaker 02

  Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer.

• 18:54Speaker 01

  With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work.

• 19:05Speaker 02

  That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about.

• 19:09Speaker 01

  Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithgemini.

• 19:16Speaker 02

  That's goo.gle/workspacewithgemini.

• 19:21Speaker 03

  At Lowe's, this Veterans Day and every day, military members, veterans, and their spouses get automatic MyLowe's Rewards Silver Status Benefits. Plus, 10% off eligible purchases with no annual limit. It's one way we honor and give back to those who have served and still do. Learn more and verify now at lowe's.com/military. 10% discount can't be combined with another offer. Exclusions, terms, and conditions apply. Loyalty program subject to terms and conditions. Details at lowe's.com/terms. Subject to change.

• 19:49Speaker 07

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• 20:47Speaker 06

  This December, the magic of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol returns to Virginia Repertory Theater in downtown Richmond. Experience the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge as he's visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, and rediscovers the joy and true meaning of the holiday season. Performances run November 18 through December 27. Tickets on sale now at virginiarep.org or by calling 804-282-2620.