I regard this book as a treasure trove of all the many wonders of the natural world that surround us.

We learn Monty is partial to a whiskey in the garden on a summer’s evening, smokes a pipe when attacked by midges and loves spotting birds of prey swooping for a kill. Best Christmas Releases* --While some gardeners appear bent on suppressing nature, Monty Don loves and works with it. But over the past 20 years, their appearances have become increasingly infrequent, increasingly brief. Best Christmas Releases* -- While some gardeners appear bent on suppressing nature, Monty Don loves and works with it.

The book is presented almost as a yearly diary annotating the events and interactions with wildlife - both flaura and fauna. I'm not comfortable with his ambivalence about huntin' and shootin', but then I don't own a large estate in Shropshire and a farm on the Welsh hills. In this book he talks more about the wildlife he observes both at his home and at the farm he owns in Wales. I really enjoyed this book as it was a revelation into the personality of Monty as well as a wonderful account of the nature he encounters throughout the year in his garden. And I loved every page; I learned something new from just about every page, which at my age is no mean thing.

I paid much more attention to their behaviour this year as I learnt what to expect on a monthly basis. If, in our own modest back yards, we can help preserve and treasure our natural world then we will make the world a better place — not just for ourselves but for every living creature. Overall this is an easy book to dip in and out of as well as one you can throw yourself into for a lengthier session of quiet escapism. 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.

There are full page colour photos for each season included in the book and Monty's descriptions and anecdotes are more than enough to bring to life the magic he sees and observes as a outdoors man submerged in nature. 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. This book is an amazing naturalists account of all the many birds, plants, and mammals that are to be found at different times of the year and in all the many places, in and around farms, gardens, woodlands and environments both familiar, and unfamiliar. I love this book, it takes you on an amazing journey through the natural year learning about all the creatures and plants that inhabit a garden and farmland through the course of one year. Each chapter is a month and I had intended to read one chapter per month in 2021, but that goal got away from me midway through the year.

Recent times have given us the enforced opportunity to learn more about the fascinating natural world around us. The book is insightful, personal, educational, amusing, inspiring, entertaining (is that enough adjectectives? I found the book incredibly informative and I applied several of Monty’s suggestions in my garden throughout the seasons. Dedicated to ‘Nigel, 2008-2020’, it pensively follows with the opening lines of ‘Afterwards’, by Thomas Hardy. Observations and insights of every living creature he encounters, every tree, bird, flower, wild flower, weed, insect and so much more.

Many of you, like me, will know Monty Don through his TV documentaries and Gardener's World - and viewers came to love his gentle golden retriever, Nigel who died the day after Monty finished writing this book.