From a very early age I loved the countryside as much as any garden and was fascinated by the life that I saw all around me from trees, wildflowers, birds, insects and mammals. In a sense this book has been over sixty years in gestation. I have kept notebooks and journals ever since I could write and I have drawn upon these as well as the events of the past year.' The book is a Season by Season, month by month journal of sorts, cataloguing the observations of plant and animal life as they emerge and appear over the course of a year. Along with his home and garden in Long Meadow, there is a farm in Wales which provide endless opportunities to observe the comings and goings of plants and wildlife as the seasons change. Think of your garden like a meal. When you select a recipe, you're choosing it based on inclination, experience and circumstance. Making a garden, big or small, uses exactly the same process.'

Swifts do not live here any more. They pay cursory visits but do not belong to these skies. Yet no other creature owns the sky more than the swift and they used to grace us with their supersonic, sleek version of the still ubiquitous swallows and martins. But over the past 20 years, their appearances have become increasingly infrequent, increasingly brief..." and there follows the explanation as to why this has happened.

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Another landmark of the style was H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald (2014), which is now followed by Vesper Flights, translating place into prose on an emotional journey - TH White's The Goshawk for the anxious generation. Spend a year with Monty Don. My Garden World is a celebration of every living creature and the natural world that we all share. Recent times have given us the enforced opportunity to learn more about the fascinating natural world around us. Whether you live in the countryside or the town, Monty's observations and insights are relevant to each and every one of us. My Garden World is Monty Don's personal journey through the natural year, month by month, season by season, observed from the immediate world around him.

From a very early age I loved the countryside as much as any garden and was fascinated by the life that I saw all around me from trees, wildflowers, birds, insects and mammals. In a sense this book has been over sixty years in gestation. I have kept notebooks and journals ever since I could write and I have drawn upon these as well as the events of the past year.’

I’ve never read a book by Monty Don, but I do so love his gentle manner on television, and that coupled with my love of gardening for nature drew me to this book.

If you are new to gardening, it can seem daunting - with Latin names, various soil types and seasonal requirements, it feels like a lot to learn. But with Monty Don's new book as a guide you will discover just how joyful and rewarding gardening can be.Having only started watching Gardener's World in the last year or so, and succumbing to the calm, soothing tone of Monty Don's voice and demeanour at a time when the world seems even more chaotic than normal, I had to see if it translated to the written word. It does.