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Broadcaster Monty Don has explored every corner of the globe, from the frozen Arctic Circle to the humid depths of the Amazonian jungle. Despite his international travels, he remains firmly rooted at Longmeadow in Herefordshire while filming the latest series of the beloved Gardeners’ World.
Many viewers imagine the cameras simply follow Monty as he wanders through the flowerbeds, but the reality is a massive professional production. It actually takes a full week of preparation and editing to create just one hour of television for fans to enjoy.
“The reality is it’s quite a big production team. It takes weeks to prepare – two days to film, six days to edit. It’s full on. In between filming, which we do two days a week, we then have to prepare the garden for what we’re filming thereafter,” Monty admits..
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Monty believes our unique relationship with the land is driven primarily by our temperate climate, which he describes as perfect for a diverse range of plants. While we often grumble about the rain, it is exactly what allows such a vast array of species to thrive across the UK.
He said: “Napoleon said we’re a nation of shopkeepers. He got it wrong. We’re a nation of gardeners. Even today, when more and more people under 30 or even 35 are finding it hard to have their own home and therefore their own garden, I think the figure is 83% of the population has access to a garden.
“That’s gone down in the last 25 years from over 90% but it’s still very, very high. It’s still a dramatically large majority of the population. That process of gardening cuts across class, race, gender, age and unites us and is a common bond.”
In his new book, British Gardens, Monty highlights several extraordinary locations that capture the spirit of British horticulture. Here are four of his standout selections:
Rousham House and Gardens
Monty points to Rousham in Oxfordshire as one of the greatest landscape gardens ever designed: “It is undoubtedly the finest survivor of the landscape movement, better than any of Capability Brown’s gardens. It was made in the 1730s, whereas Brown didn’t start working till a quarter of a century later and is pretty much unchanged. No change could improve it.
LANDSCAPE MOVEMENT: Statue and monument in the grounds of Rousham House, Oxfordshire (Image: Alamy/PA)
“It is open to the public but very eccentrically. There’s a big sign saying ‘No dogs, no children (under 15), which some people get very cross about, but you take it as it is. It’s entirely evergreen with lots of statues and water,” he notes.
Opening times: Every day from 10am. For more information, visit the website.
Scampston Hall, North Yorkshire
The walled garden was designed by Dutch nurseryman Piet Oudolf, who created a complete compartmentalised garden within the walls around the 4.5-acre site. “It includes his use of structure and hedges and space in a way that he abandoned 15 or 20 years ago,” said Monty.
“I like his early gardens better than his late gardens. It has a bit of everything – prairie planting, incredible hedges, the mound, it has the water and it’s beautifully restored and looked after.”
It’s subdivided by hedges into 10 different areas or rooms – all of which are a sight to behold.
Opening times: From April 1, Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays.
Wollerton Old Hall, Shropshire
Monty said: “That is a ‘wow’ garden. It is the epitome of the British garden, and two of the four acres are woodland. It’s not so much lots of small rooms as different areas connected by sight lines and paths, so they all interlink but they all have their own character. It’s very much on a domestic scale, not a great big grand house.”
The garden has been created by Lesley and John Jenkins over 40 years, in what started off as a field when they had a young family. Monty said: “They make a perfect team. The quote she says is, she uses plants and he grows plants. So what you have is that she designs it, chooses the plants, thinks of the colour scheme. And he will produce the perfect variety to achieve that effect, that loves the soil and loves the conditions and makes sure it’s looking its very best. Between them they have established one of the most magical gardens ever made.”
Opening times: From April 3, Friday, Sunday, bank holiday Mondays (April/May). Visit the website for more details.
Balmoral Cottage, Kent
Monty thinks topiary is an essential component of the British garden, and this one has been created by Charlotte and Donald Molesworth, who moved there in 1983 when it had become very overgrown: “When they got married she only asked for two presents. One was cuttings and seedlings of yew and box, and the other was curtains. She grew the cuttings and seedlings on and made this topiary garden.”
Today, you walk down a brick path flanked by high box hedging studded with box balls, along with topiary and hedging with everything else in the garden, he writes. The topiary ranges from figurative birds and animals, as well as cloud pruning and geometrically shaped hedging.
He said: “It’s a cottage, not huge, in a village in the country, but it is the most charming, quirky, eccentric but tasteful epitome of the very British garden. It’s just magical,” he says.
Opening times: April 26, see website for more details.
Fit for a king – Birkhall
Lastly, Monty explains his love for Birkhall, Aberdeenshire: “It has to be the King’s garden. It is private and was, therefore, a privilege and an act of friendship, almost, to let us film there. I know the King a little bit and the Queen. I wouldn’t suggest that we’re friends, but I’ve had doings with them over the years.
ROYAL RESIDENCE: Birkhall, in the Cairngorms National Park (Image: Derry Moore/PA)
“They are keen gardeners, proper gardeners and they love it. To have insight into the private world of probably the most public figure in the country was momentous.It’s a curious mixture – it’s a royal garden, beautifully gardened with great big kitchen gardens, lawns and woods, but it feels domestic, private.”
You can buy the much-loved gardener’s book British Gardens by Monty Don & Derry Moore here.
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