We think of home as our ultimate refuge – a sanctuary from the noise and pollution of the outside world. But what if the space meant to protect us is actually the one we should be questioning most?

Dr. Jenny Goodman, a practitioner of ecological medicine, has spent years examining how modern life exposes us to toxins and sharing practical steps we can take to reduce exposure.

Jenny breaks down the "cocktail effect" of everyday cleaning products, the common mistakes we make with food storage and the reason she chooses a Wi-Fi-free domestic life.

This isn’t a conversation about getting everything right. No home is entirely free from toxicity, and it’s about personal choice. But Jenny teaches us the importance of paying closer attention to our surroundings – and making small, considered changes that may have a positive impact in the long term.

Please note: the views expressed in this episode are those of the guest and are not intended as medical advice.

To hear more from us:

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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

Beyond the whirlwind of galleries and exhibitions, Tate Director Maria Balshaw's home holds the quieter, deeply personal moments of her life.

Growing up in Northampton, she longed to escape her characterless new-build house and nurtured a desire to be different. Her current home in Kent is a reflection of that creative rebellion, with medieval beams at its centre, classical sash windows on one side and Crittalls on the other.

Maria grows vegetables in her garden year-round, swims in the sea nearby, and measures time by what’s coming into flower – a way to be at one with nature and shed the stress of an urban working week.

Her mother spent her final months in this house, sitting on the terrace in the sun, watching buzzards circle the valley, convinced one of them was her late husband waiting for her.

At the end of March, Maria is stepping down from her position at the Tate after nine years, signing off with a major Tracey Emin exhibition. She knows exactly where she’ll be the following morning: in the garden, in her wellies, at the start of the growing season.

This is a conversation about movement and rootedness – and about what it means to build a home that can hold both.
This episode was recorded inside Maria’s home in Kent.

A full tour of the home and garden 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
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

Why are some people drawn to minimalist architecture while others prefer nostalgic rooms filled with antiques and personal artefacts?

Writer and philosopher Alain de Botton believes the answer might lie deeper than taste.

For many years, Alain has explored the emotional forces that shape our inner lives – from love and loss to status anxiety. Through his educational organisation, The School of Life, he has focused on wellbeing and self-understanding.

Much of this thinking connects directly to the built environment.

In his book The Architecture of Happiness, Alain argues that buildings are never neutral: they can steady us, unsettle us, and quietly influence who we become.

In this conversation, Alain reflects on his own relationship with domestic space – and how, in many ways, he has spent a lifetime trying to recreate the modernist calm of his childhood home in Switzerland.

Together, Matt and Alain explore beauty, belonging and control – and examine why so many of us turn to architecture in search of a kind of psychological skin.

This is a conversation that goes to the heart of what Homing is about: how we build safety, both in the spaces around us and within ourselves.

This episode was filmed at Alain’s house in North London.

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

For exclusive walking tours – from Dan Pearson’s year-round outdoor kitchen to Polly Morgan’s taxidermy zebra – join us on Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt