Monty Don has presented the popular BBC programme for over a decade
Monty Don said “it’s like going back to school”(Image: James Manning/PA Wire)
Monty Don has shared the “reality” behind filming Gardeners’ World. The popular BBC programme has graced our screens for almost six decades as the the UK’s longest-running gardening programme. Monty Don took over from Toby Buckland in 2011 and has been a mainstay presenter ever since.
The broadcaster and author has travelled the world with his love of gardening, visiting stunning locations all over the globe including the Arctic Circle, the Australian outback and the Amazonian jungle. Gardeners’ World currently airs between mid-March and late October on BBC Two every Friday.
Monty Don is currently filming for the latest series in his own garden at Longmeadow in Herefordshire, however the broadcaster shared how he has to be very flexible when it comes to what type of weather he’ll get during filming.
He said: “I want people to think that the camera just turns up and follows me pottering around the garden, then we pop off to look at Adam (Frost) or Carol (Klein) doing something else, then after an hour we say bye bye.
“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. I brace myself. For the crew and I, it’s like going back to school.”
Away from the screen, the 70-year-old has found the time to write his own book, British Gardens. The book sees the expert take a look at some of the best gardens Britain has to offer, from Scotland to Cornwall.
British Gardens by Monty Don and Derry Moore(Image: BBC Books/PA)
Asked about what makes British gardens so unique, he said: “The first is simply climate. We have the best weather.
“And although we complain about the weather all the time, it’s actually perfect for a wider range of gardening than any other country in the world.”
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.”
British Gardens by Monty Don and Derry Moore is published by BBC Books, priced £35.
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