Charlotte Church (Part One)
Walking The Dog with Emily Dean
Goalhanger
4.6 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week Emily and Ray travel to Wales for a beautiful beach walk with the wonderful Charlotte Church, joined by her two dogs Holly the Cavapoo and Selma the Spoodle.
They met on Barry Island Beach, which might look familiar thanks to Gavin and Stacey, and Emily chats to Charlotte about her extraordinary life. From her childhood in Wales, to singing Pie Jesu on This Morning at just 11, becoming Voice of an Angel, and going on to sell more than ten million records, Charlotte reflects on the incredible highs of those early years and the surreal moments that came with worldwide fame.
Charlotte also talks about her recent appearance on Celebrity Traitors, where she was reunited with Jonathan Ross, who played a key role in her early career after showcasing her talent on his Big Big Talent Show.
Charlotte also talks about turning her attention to a very different kind of project in recent years, transforming Laura Ashley’s former home in Wales into The Dreaming, a magical wellbeing retreat offering nature immersion, meditation, sound healing, yoga and even night-time forest bathing. You can explore retreat packages and find out more at https://thedreaming.co.uk.
It’s a warm and joyful conversation with someone who became globally famous as a child, yet has somehow remained grounded, funny and wonderfully down to earth. Emily and Ray absolutely loved spending time with her.
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Walking The Dog is produced by Will Nichols
Music: Rich Jarman
Artwork: Alice Ludlam
Photography: Karla Gowlett
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And I was like, it is Nico, it is Claire, it is Tamika and it is Celia. |
| 0:06.0 | And I was absolutely sure. |
| 0:10.0 | This week on walking the dog, Ray and I headed to Wales to take a stroll with the wonderful Charlotte Church |
| 0:17.0 | and her two dogs Holly the Cabapoo and Selma the Spoodle. We met up with Charlotte on the beautiful |
| 0:23.1 | Barry Island Beach which looked fabulously familiar because it is of course where Gavin and |
| 0:27.8 | Stacey was filmed. Charlotte has been a huge star since the age of 11 so it was really heartening |
| 0:34.1 | to see how people in her local community in Wales just accept her as one of their own. |
| 0:38.3 | She wasn't once hassled or asked for selfies, but that also has a lot to do with Charlotte, because she's someone who clearly has never been remotely interested in fame. |
| 0:49.3 | Charlotte and I had such a lovely chat about her fascinating life, from her childhood in Wales, to the |
| 0:55.2 | life-changing moment when as an 11-year-old she phoned this morning one day and sung PA-Ye-Zoo |
| 1:00.5 | over the phone, to the huge part Jonathan Ross played in her career when she showcased her voice |
| 1:05.6 | on his big, big talent show. And by the way, Jonathan and Charlotte were of course reunited |
| 1:10.5 | recently for celebrity |
| 1:11.6 | traitors, but because she adores him, she's totally forgiven him for murdering her. |
| 1:17.0 | Charlotte was only 12 years old when she topped the classical charts with her album Voice of an |
| 1:21.6 | Angel and she went on to sell over 10 million records in her career, along with performing for some pretty major figures, |
| 1:29.0 | including Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II. But in recent years, she's devoted her life |
| 1:35.8 | to a very different kind of project. She bought Laura Ashley's magical old house in Wales |
| 1:41.0 | and has turned it into a truly unique well-being retreat called The Dreaming, |
| 1:46.1 | where people can step away from modern life and immerse themselves in nature, sound healing, |
| 1:51.8 | meditation, yoga, and I love the sound of this, nighttime forest bathing. It's had incredible reviews |
| 1:58.7 | and offers all sorts of retreat packages so you can find out all about it at thedreaming.co.uk. |
... |
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