An Audience with Monty Don

The Barbican isn’t a place one would normally expect to be among crowds of garden enthusiasts. But no-one was concerned about the venue, its brutalist architecture and its slightly bizarre layout. We were all eager to find our seats and hear the stories national treasure Monty Don had in store for us. And what seats! Our seats (thanks to a donation from a generous CABAHS member) were front and central, in touching distance of the stage (and indeed of Monty Don himself).

Monty is a wonderfully fluent and stylish raconteur. The first half of the evening focussed on Long Meadow. But even before we got to Hereford, he described the connection he has felt since a teenager with growing plants and with working the soil. We heard how Monty and Sarah had created  a garden in London while enjoying the high life associated with their costume jewellery business in the 1990s.  A picture of a very youthful Monty quaffing wine at a reception at 10 Downing Street remains in my memory. Quite a contrast to the almost bleak early pictures of the garden at Long Meadow which they bought when the business failed. We saw a field covered in horse manure and thousands of bean pole fences marking out the early ‘rooms’ providing structure while the hedges were putting down their roots. He described the financial challenges of gardening at such scale. And the design challenges including the various colour themes they had used to differentiate the different areas. My favourite has always been the jewel garden which comes into its own in the late summer with its rich reds, purples and luscious foliage. We saw the amazing topiary which forms a low maintenance but striking front garden.

The second half was devoted to stories of Gardeners World. The dogs of course featured large. Nigel was probably the best known golden retriever in the UK, still much mourned. By all accounts he was a natural tv star who enjoyed all the trappings. When appearing on the One Show he had his own green room, hair dresser and supply of tennis balls! His successors haven’t quite matched his scene stealing ability but neither Long Meadow nor the programmes would be the same without them.

The programmes are not live but filmed up to three weeks before they go out. I was astonished to learn that there are now 22 ‘rooms’ in Long Meadow in which the production teams can film so several programmes can be prepared at the same time. Monty is also one of the main presenters for the Chelsea Flower Show and he teased us with mention of the Chelsea garden he will be doing next year. The pictures of Main Avenue crammed with people, were in stark contrast to the  tranquillity of Long Meadow. But more importantly it provided a segue into a some final words about the importance of gardening to our communities and to our individual mental health. Long Meadow is clearly a source of solace as well as income for Monty and I suspect the whole Don family.

The evening was an absolute treat. Monty is a superb communicator. A decent gardener also!

Stella B