Interview Monty Don
FOR many in the country, the gloriously sunny first months of lockdown offered a chance to spend more time in the garden, to get to know our Salvia pratensis from our S. nemorosa and to monitor the passing hours with shifts from hammock to lounger. Britain’s Gardener in Chief, however —in what is typical of the way he works—knocked out a mere 300,000 words, putting to bed two new books.
It has not been an easy year for Monty Don, whose much loved golden retriever, Nigel, died in May aged 12. The nation mourned the loss of arguably the star of Gardeners’ World, who never left his master’s side— except to chase after a tennis ball. Nigel was a natural, on set all day long and more than content to take up his position and to repeat takes over and over again. By contrast, Nellie, the Dons’ other golden retriever, gets bored and disappears after about three minutes.
Monty’s new dog, Patti, is a Yorkshire terrier. She arrived as a tiny puppy about a year ago and became great friends with Nigel, who allowed her to crawl all over him. Now Patti is showing all the makings of a new star; as with Nigel, this is never set up to please the camera, but ‘she wants to be involved’.
A typical terrier, ‘she chases around all day and becomes bossy and contrary and grumpy in the evenings’. The family also has two miniature dachshunds, Brenda, 14 and smooth-haired, and 10-year-old, wire-haired Peggy, but, says Monty, they do not like being filmed.
This story is from the September 16, 2020 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 16, 2020 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Love and logic
Two lovers who endured adversity and separation in life would become united in Paris after death, discovers Eileen Reid
Don't mock them
Plant a philadelphus, or mock orange, now for improbably lovely scent and cascades of sparkling blossom this summer, says John Hoyland
Home is where the art is
No trouble is too much for the Marquess of Cholmondeley to display to best effect Sir Antony Gormley's sculptures against the magnificent backdrop of Houghton Hall, even if it means cutting a hole in the floor, as Charlotte Mullins discovers
Bold and beautiful
The gardens at Broughton Grange, Oxfordshire The home of Sir Stephen and Lady Hester An arboretum, woodland garden, stumpery and heather garden all planted for artistic effect are among the many features that mark out this exciting garden, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Land of liquid gold
Greek cuisine-from delicious mezes to shellfish-might be 'tightly bound to the sparse soil and the blue sea', but it is sorely underrated, laments Tom Parker Bowles
An old way of life in rural France
Arcadian tranquillity, a wealth of cultural richness and a slow pace of life enchant John Lewis-Stempel as he reflects on his existence in France profonde
Deep in Hardy country
Hardy's beguilingly pretty Wessex is the setting for three houses with links to people and places that fuelled the writer's imagination
The benefit of foresight
The ability to anticipate the future is the secret of a successful building project
Nature's rarest gems
G. Collins & Sons specialises in the sourcing and setting of the finest natural fancy coloured diamonds the world has to offer
A prickly subject
Resembling a jumbo jacket potato on surprisingly long, scurrying legs, the hedgehog is Britain’s favourite mammal. Marianne Taylor takes a closer look beneath its spines