Monty Don

Monty Don

From Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth by Gyles Brandreth / Plain Jaine Media

April 3, 2026 · 1h 18m

About this episode

Monty Don shares insights about his life, including his childhood, struggles with cancer, and passion for gardening in a heartfelt conversation with Gyles Brandreth.

This week's guest is the utterly wonderful Monty Don, and this is one of our warmest, richest, most delightful and most touching episodes yet - full of insight, wisdom, stories, laughter and - of course some tears. This is Rosebud, after all. Monty tells Gyles about his childhood, which was partly idyllic, but partly overshadowed by the presence of his rather frightening father, a former Army heavyweight boxing champion suffering from PTSD. Monty talks about his unhappy time at boarding school, and his treatment for cancer when he was only ten. He tells Gyles about his university days, about meeting his wife, and about their jewellery business... and he talks about his experience of depression. Plus, of course, he talks about gardens - what gives them charm, and which is his favourite garden in the UK. Monty's beautiful new book, British Gardens, is available here . And finally, Happy Easter to all of you from us at Rosebud! Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube here . Join The Rosebud Family here . And visit our website here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Gyles Brandreth

Guest: Monty Don

Topics covered

  • childhood
  • gardening
  • mental health
  • family
  • cancer
  • boarding school
  • depression

Keywords

  • Monty Don
  • Gyles Brandreth
  • gardens
  • mental health
  • childhood
  • cancer
  • depression
  • boarding school

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: British Gardens

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