A whitewashed village and a lighthouse on a curve of beach, rowing boats on the sand and a full moon rising over the sea.

About The Settle

The Settle is slow sleep stories for adults who are good at everything except stopping. Every story is set in the same small village on the south-facing Spanish coast, and the long ones are told twice, the second time slower, so your mind has nothing left to chase.

What a night sounds like

A night starts quietly and stays that way. The sea is underneath from the first minute to the last. The story is told once, then again, slower and lower, in gentler words, because a story with no surprises left is one your mind can finally put down. Nothing interrupts, nothing gets louder, and every night ends with waves and a long fade you are not meant to hear. Every story is read by a calm synthetic voice.

It is small on purpose: one village, one voice, one sea. And every few nights there is a little magic, the kind you are already halfway into, like the moon coming down to soak in a tide pool before going back on her shift. You are falling asleep. The stories are allowed to know that.

A small whitewashed village on the Spanish coast at night, lamps lit above the harbour and moonlight on the sea. — The village, putting itself to bed.

Where it is set

A small unnamed village on the south-facing Spanish coast, modelled on the Costa del Sol. The sun rises east over the sea and sets west behind the hills. There is a red-capped lighthouse on the rocks at the far end of the bay, a cottage with warm windows, a fisherman who works the morning tide, an orange tree with white blossoms in the village square, and a small bell that rings whenever the wind passes through it. The world is meant to become familiar, the way a place you return to every night becomes familiar.

A whitewashed window ledge in a lighthouse lantern room: a leather notebook, a steel flask and a pale stone, with the moon making a path across a calm sea. — The lantern room, after dark.

Who Freddie is

Freddie is a small corgi who lives in the village and wanders through many of the stories. He is unhurried, observant, slightly amused, and never in a rush about anything. He doesn't give advice. He notices small things: the sound of a particular wave on a particular stone, the way the lighthouse beam rests on the sea for a moment. In the new season he visits every second night. On the others, the village is yours.

Freddie, a small corgi, asleep on the warm step of a clock shop by the harbour. — Freddie, asleep on the clock shop step.

Where it came from

The Settle began as Prince Freddie Sleep Stories, a free weekly series inspired by a real Pembroke Welsh Corgi called Prince Freddie who spent a few months living on the beach in a small village on the Spanish coast. The lighthouse at the far end of the bay, the morning fishermen, the warm cottage at dusk: the world is built quietly around his real wanderings. As the stories grew longer and slower, they became The Settle.

Produced and published independently from a small studio. Contact: letthedaysettle.com/contact.

A small harbour under a full moon, boats at their moorings, a lighthouse on the rocks and whitewashed houses above the water. — The harbour under a full moon.

How it's different from Calm and Headspace

Three things. You can start free, with no app: three full stories by email, and the free show in any podcast app. It is one world and one voice, every night, instead of rotating readers in unrelated settings. And the long nights are told twice, slower the second time, built to be slept through rather than listened to. (More detail at alternatives to Calm.)

A small whitewashed room at the foot of a lighthouse, the stove lit and rain on the window. — The stove lit, the rain outside.

Where to listen

3 full stories free by email: Night 1 arrives straight away, then one a day.
The Settle Sleep Stories, the free show, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
The Settle Premium: every long, told-twice night, in the podcast app you already use.
The first season: every story, free to read and listen to.