Energetic little me – up at dawn and busy outside from April onwards – yet I’m transported to dormouse mode when the clocks go back. I’ve often said I have need to hibernate from October to March.

I don’t suffer from seasonal affected disorder; I love winter days, I enjoy brisk walks with the dogs and appreciate winter landscapes, but my oh my, I just love wintertime inside the enveloping comfort of my own home. There’s a battening-down-the-hatches deliciousness which comes over me when I draw the curtains at winter’s dusk…

In fact, winter is when I don’t feel guilty sitting in the warmth of home. I was thus delighted on listening to BBC Radio 4’s programme Something Understood on hibernation to be introduced to a word which is near-defunct… croodle.

Croodle: the British equivalent to the now-trendy Danish concept of hygge (defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality characteristic of Danish culture). When I’m croodling – and I’m quite convinced that although I’m only recently acquainted with the term I’m an expert croodler – like a happy hen in her cosy nesting box.

Mark Tully, regular presenter of Something Understood, introduced Emma Mitchell, author of a book titled Making Winter to discuss her ideas and experiences of winter hibernation. She advanced the Danish concept of hygge as an alternative to winter’s potential for doom and gloom where cosiness, candlelight and a meeting of friends are celebrated. Feelings of cosy wellbeing transcend cultures … as if winter industriousness in inside warmth conferred societal, evolutionary benefits. Descriptive words denote this sense of cosy, winter-wellbeing across several European languages.

After Emma’s contribution Tully introduced a hauntingly beautiful Berber song from Algeria telling of a family gathering: grandmother telling stories, snow falling outside. That is what I love most about the programme: it’s eclectic, yet gently meditative. Poetry, music and discussion are knitted together whilst examining religions, ethics and life’s larger questions.

When I click onto the website for Something Understood a suggestion is made: “You may also like Prayer for the day, & Daily Service.” Sorry BBC, I feel cheated. Something Understood is the antithesis of in-your-face religious broadcasting.

A programme as much appreciated by those without a faith as those with: I am beside myself that in 2019 – BBC’s Year of Beliefs (when specialist programmes about religion and faith were promised) – they choose to axe their programme of true excellence.

I’m with Roger Bolton, presenter of Radio 4’s Feedback, quoted as saying “the decision to cut Something Understood sits oddly with the BBC’s new commitment to religious broadcasting”.

Mark Tully mentioned how personal hibernation can lead to introspective creativity – it transpires Chopin once hibernated in a monastery where he wrote preludes; and composer Sir Arnold Bax chose to compose symphonies in a Scottish hotel in the 1920s while ‘hibernating’.

Permission to croodle next winter without feelings of guilt; I assure you, it’s cosily and creatively liberating…