Pottering with Tom Allen

An absolute joy this week to be joined among the hydrangeas by gardening guru Henry Agg! 🌸Garden designer and social media sensation, I love Henry’s accessible approach to gardening and was thrilled when he agreed to pop by for some Pottering.Listen in as we discuss Henry’s rather dramatic career change from the glamour of IT recruitment to the garden shed, the mental health benefits of spending time outdoors, and our highlights from this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Henry also tells us all about his brilliant book, The Weekend Gardener, packed with tips, tricks and a plethora of projects to fill your weekends. 📖🌱So, dust off your trug, pour yourself a glass of something cold, and let’s go Pottering. 🪴🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.And please like and subscribe! @tomallenClick below to discover QVC’s My Garden Escape, whether you're a seasoned gardener or a horticultural novice, it's your ultimate gardening destination. And don’t forget to use the code POTTER for £10 off your first purchase (minimum spends apply, see QVC website for full terms and conditions)https://www.qvcuk.com/content/garden-and-leisure/my-garden-escape.html?cid=PR-IF-Pottering&e22=MGE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joining me this week in the gentle summer rain is the fabulous Philippa Perry! ☔ Author, psychotherapist, artist and agony aunt, Philippa is perhaps best known for the captivating The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, and now her brand new cosy crime novel, Shrink Solves Murder, is out too! 📖Join us for a fascinating conversation, and an occasional visualised therapy session, where we chat writing fiction, why Mum’s comments about my chairs hurt more than they should, and newsletter reading newts. We also discuss whether a chatbot would make a good psychotherapist, and the importance of shagging in our youth. 🤖😘 Do take a look at Philippa’s new book, Shrink Solves Murder, and oh I urge you to follow her on Substack! 👈 So, settle down under our murder gazebo, stop scrolling on Rightmove, and let’s go Pottering. 🪴 🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.And please do like and subscribe, or leave a review! Just don't mention the postman! @tomallen Click below to discover QVC’s My Garden Escape, whether you're a seasoned gardener or a horticultural novice, it's your ultimate gardening destination. And don’t forget to use the code POTTER for £10 off your first purchase (minimum spends apply, see QVC website for full terms and conditions) https://www.qvcuk.com/content/garden-and-leisure/my-garden-escape.html?cid=PR-IF-Pottering&e22=MGE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I was joined in my Pottering patch by the glorious Kiri Pritchard-McLean! Stand up comedian, podcaster and all round delight, I’ve known Kiri for a long time so it was such a joy to catch up. 🌸 🐓🌾 Straight from the countryside in her transit van, Kiri arrived with tales of dead rats, learning from the past in her own farming adventures, and her wonderful fostering work. There is also a rather lovely memory involving a stripper in my mum and dad’s kitchen. Ah, wonderful times. Now, pop that kitten back in its box, grab your favourite plant based snack, and come Pottering with us. 🐈 🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.And please do like and subscribe, @tomallen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we welcomed the wonderful Laura Checkley in to the garden! A glorious actor and brilliantly funny, you’ll know Laura from King Gary, Action Team, Screw, Detectorists and, well, so many things besides! 🎬 🪴 We chat firing guns in Bulgaria, neighbourhood Facebook groups and what growing up gay did to our wardrobes. My bathroom birdsong also gets another mention, what a successful purchase that has turned out to be! 🐦‍⬛ So, stick on that little beanie hat, grab yourself some chicken wings and let’s go Pottering. 🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. 🌷 Please do like and subscribe as they say! 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code tomallen at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/tomallen⛵ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joining me this week in our little Pottering oasis is the delightful Cariad Lloyd! Comedian, author and podcast sensation, Cariad is co-host of the brilliant Sara & Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club with Sara Pascoe, and part of the all-star improv show Austentatious, which is in the West End and on tour throughout 2026, so do check that out! 🌷🎭We chat nineties nostalgia, the wonderful world of improv, yes and hear all about Cariad’s amazing children’s book Where Did She Go? Both proud members of the Dead Dad Club, Cariad has such a wonderfully honest way of chatting about death and grief. If the conversation intrigues you, please do seek out her books, and take a listen to Griefcast, (once you’re all up to date and subscribed to Pottering, of course!) 😉💕🌹 Now, put a bookmark in that copy of Sense and Sensibility, dust off your old DMs, and let’s go Pottering.🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.And please do like and subscribe, @tomallen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joining me this week in the garden is the delightful Ashley James! Broadcaster, campaigner and Sunday Times Bestselling author, Ashley's debut book Bimbo is out right now! 🌸 We chat about turning our hands to gardening, sometimes at the expense of Dad’s daffodils, the surprisingly fascinating origins of the ‘Crazy Cat Lady’, and the highs and lows of being a woman online. 🐈 🌻 So, switch off This Morning, grab a little sachet of wildflowers, and come pottering with me. 🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. And please do like and subscribe, @tomallen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh what joy to have the marvellous Sarah Hadland joining me in the garden this week. 💃🏼🪩 Strictly sensation, such fun sitcom star and a truly fabulous actress, soon to be lighting up the London stage in The Truth.🦊 We chat fox poo, the perils of Slip 'n' Slide and, of course, getting pissed with Alan Titchmarsh. And stay tuned to hear all about a rather alarming encounter with a bull in East Croydon!So, get a sink at the ready (just in case), don those Strictly sequins, and do please join me for some Pottering.🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify or listen wherever you get your podcasts.And please do like and subscribe, @tomallen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh hello, and welcome back to the garden, lovely listeners. 🌱 Spring has sprung, the daffodils are doing their thing, and the doctor is in! Yes, joining me this week is the ever-delightful Dr Amir Khan. 🩺 We had a lovely chat about grief and gardening, his work with the RSPB, and what it’s like being the nation’s favourite GP. Plus, listen in to discover why a rather unfortunate rash brought Amir’s garden centre visit to an abrupt end... 👀 Now, put down that cheeky little rascal, apply your ointments, and come pottering with us... It’s very good to be back. 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code tomallen at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/tomallen⛵ 🎧 Watch on YouTube and Spotify, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. And do like and subscribe, @tomallen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whilst Pottering is taking a little break, we’re bringing you some of my favourite moments from the first series, some Clippings if you will. 🌱Join us this week to hear from James Acaster, Kerry Godliman, Nish Kumar, Jess Wright, Amy Gledhill, Harry Hadden Paton, Charlie Baker and Sam Battersea. A truly glorious collection of guests. Expect National Trust nostalgia, Catio chat, and plenty more besides.So, dust off that trowel, set aside those very important diaries, and join me once again for some Pottering. 🪴 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello lovely listeners. Pottering with me, Tom Allen, is taking a short intermission. Yes, I’m stepping away from the garden for a few weeks, swapping my much loved Crocs for something altogether more seaworthy as I step aboard the West End stage in Titanique! But fear not. We shall return, and when we do there are plenty more delightful guests lined up, which I am very much looking forward to. With any luck we may even be greeted by a little Spring sunshine. Now, wouldn’t that be nice? In the meantime, do pop back next week for some of my favourite moments from the podcast so far, some Clippings if you will. And you can always head over to my YouTube for a nosey at my giant urn and to watch our wonderful guests in full. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, founder of Hunsnet and meme extraordinaire Gareth Howells joins me in the garden for a delightfully fun, and occasionally naughty, chat I am very much looking forward to taking Benidorm by storm with our Pitbull / Steve McFadden tribute act. Watch this space. Warning. There is some choice language in this episode, so perhaps best saved for the greenhouse, away from younger listeners. We chat nightlife nostalgia, the Bromley gay scene (my mum’s friends), and the rights and wrongs of the jukebox musical. I also ask Gareth about his gardening obsessions and we explore the garden accessories of a Hun. Clue, it may involve a Lazy Spa. So slip into your Anne Summers bodice, pop on a felt cowboy hat, and let’s go Pottering with Tom Allen. Did you know you can also watch the podcast on Youtube? Just search for @tomallen. And please do like and subscribe (is that what I'm meant to say?) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh it was truly a delight to have the wonderful Giovanna Fletcher join me in the garden. Actress, author, podcaster and gardening enthusiast, Giovanna is an absolute joy and it was a real pleasure chatting about mulch, motherhood, and most things in between. We discuss the correct way to deal with slugs, late night compost purchases, and the anomaly of audiobook accents. Once again the gazebo made an appearance, but spirits most definitely were not dampened. Please do seek out Giovanna’s brilliant books, her podcast Happy Mum Happy Baby, and the incredible work she does as a patron of CoppaFeel! Did you know you can also watch the podcast on Youtube? Just search for @tomallen. So pick up your umbrella, get your hands on a bowl of cucamelons, and come Pottering with me. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Another week, another fabulous guest to get us through these winter months! ☃️ This time it was the turn of the ever-so delightful James Gill to join me in the garden. Superb comic, podcast host and founder of the unbelievably brilliant Always Be Comedy, as I say in the episode, they're truly the best comedy nights in London so do check them out! Our conversation takes us down memory lane, via Hollywood and Penge, which I thoroughly enjoyed and I hope you will too. Filmed a little while ago, James kindly helped me with my wisteria whippy bits, we chat surprise Santas, mowing 'me-time' and of course indulge in some baldness banter. Don't forget, you can also watch the podcast on Youtube - just search for @tomallen. So grab your toupee, wrap up warm and come Pottering with me. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices