monty don tour

Monty Don is a renowned gardening writer and BBC television presenter and the nation’s favourite and most respected gardener. Hear him speak about his more...

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0203 356 5441, an audience with monty don.

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• Date : Mon 11 Nov 2024
• Time : 7:30pm

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Join BBC Gardeners' World presenter and gardening writer, Monty Don, as he shares his passion for gardens and the unique role they play in human inspiration and wellbeing.

Monty has been making television programmes for over 30 years and has been lead presenter of the BBC’s Gardener’s Worldsince 2003.

Since 2011 the programme has come from his own garden, Longmeadow, in Herefordshire. After a thrilling sellout tour in 2022, Monty is heading back out on tour where he will share tales from his career in gardening, detail his favourite gardens – both ancient and modern, and reveal how he fell in love with the natural world.

Discover how he created his beautiful garden at Longmeadow, the gardening practices he considers to be the most useful and important, and the magical impact of the changing of the seasons on each part of the garden. With something for seasoned gardeners and green-fingered novices alike, don’t miss the opportunity to join Monty for a timely and thought-provoking celebration of the ever-surprising and comforting presence of nature.

This is the ultimate Monty Don experience.

• Date: Mon 11 Nov 2024
• Time: 7:30pm

• HOSPITALITY OPTIONS
• Exclusive hospitality options available for this event with York Barbican. MORE INFORMATION BUY PREMIUM
• EXTRA SHOW INFO

U14's Must Be Accompanied By An Adult.

Venue Doors: 6:30pm

Show Starts: 7:30pm

Join BBC Gardeners' World presenter and gardening writer, Monty Don, as he shares his passion for gardens and the unique role they play in human inspiration and wellbeing.

Monty has been making television programmes for over 30 years and has been lead presenter of the BBC’s Gardener’s World since 2003. Since 2011 the programme has come from his own garden, Longmeadow, in Herefordshire.

After a thrilling sellout tour in 2022 Monty is heading back out on tour where he will share tales from his career in gardening, detail his favourite gardens – both ancient and modern, and reveal how he fell in love with the natural world. Discover how he created his beautiful garden at Longmeadow, the gardening practices he considers to be the most useful and important, and the magical impact of the changing of the seasons on each part of the garden.

With something for seasoned gardeners and green-fingered novices alike, don’t miss the opportunity to join Monty for a timely and thought-provoking celebration of the ever-surprising and comforting presence of nature. This is the ultimate Monty Don experience.

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An Audience with Monty Don

Join BBC Gardeners' World presenter and gardening writer, Monty Don , as he shares his passion for gardens and the unique role they play in human inspiration and wellbeing. 

Monty has been making television programmes for over 30 years and has been lead presenter of the BBC’s Gardener’s World since 2003. Since 2011 the programme has come from his own garden, Longmeadow, in Herefordshire. 

After a thrilling sellout tour in 2022 Monty is heading back out on tour where he will share tales from his career in gardening, detail his favourite gardens – both ancient and modern, and reveal how he fell in love with the natural world. Discover how he created his beautiful garden at Longmeadow, the gardening practices he considers to be the most useful and important, and the magical impact of the changing of the seasons on each part of the garden. 

With something for seasoned gardeners and green-fingered novices alike, don’t miss the opportunity to join Monty for a timely and thought-provoking celebration of the ever-surprising and comforting presence of nature. This is the ultimate Monty Don experience. 

Monty will be doing a special in conversation event on 8 July at Kew The Music 2024 , a week-long festival of picnic concerts at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.  Picnic hampers will be available to add on to your ticket.

F or those who are unable to attend the live show, the event at The Barbican, London  will be live streamed via Fane Online. Worldwide viewing is available and the stream will be available for one week on demand after the initial broadcast, so you can watch at anytime if the initial broadcast time doesn't suit your timezone. 

• DATES, VENUES & TIMES

Kew The Music: Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew

Forum Theatre, Malvern

Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin

Barbican Centre, London

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Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

The Lowry, Salford Quays

York Barbican

De Montfort Hall, Leicester

Swansea Arena

New Theatre, Oxford

Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Anvil Arts, Basingstoke

WAITING LIST

Brighton Dome

The Great Hall, Exeter

Hall for Cornwall

The Forum, Bath

Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

Ipswich Regent Theatre

Cambridge Corn Exchange

Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Tour Monty Don's Longmeadow garden at his Herefordshire home

It's glorious.

Known as Longmeadow garden, there's plenty to admire, including an abundance of beautiful plants providing year-round colour, symmetrical beds centred upon a water feature, an orchard providing over 50 different varieties of apples, and topiary of his golden retriever Nigel .

Loyal BBC Gardeners' World viewers will be very familiar with Monty's garden too. As lead presenter of the gardening show, Monty has been presenting from his own garden since 2011.

But it didn't always look like this. Back in October 1991, Monty and his wife Sarah purchased the countryside property with high hopes to restore the garden. 'The garden consisted of a 2 acre abandoned field out the back and a much smaller area in the front covered in builder’s rubble,' Monty describes on his blog , adding that there was just one tree.

With a lot of planning, TLC and hard work, Monty transformed Longmeadow garden into a peaceful haven filled with his favourite plants and flowers. The main areas are: The Cottage Garden, The Paradise Garden, The Vegetable Garden and The Jewel Garden, the latter of which Monty says is 'the physical and spiritual centre of the entire garden'. Think of them as huge garden rooms; they all feel like separate spaces but together they perfectly complement one another.

Take a tour of Monty's garden below...

The Cottage Garden

Monty Don's cottage garden was first used as a vegetable patch, but, over the years, the gardener has transformed it into a traditional space filled with soft colours, fruit trees and over 50 kinds of old-fashioned shrub roses.

The Long Walk

Imagine walking along this path and just embracing nature and the great outdoors? It's defined by perfectly maintained hedges and bordered by tulips.

The vegetable garden

Monty has been growing vegetables since he was a small child. At Longmeadow, Monty grows vegetables across two sites, all arranged into different raised beds.

READ MORE : 7 fast-growing vegetables you can harvest in no time

Grow Your Own

When it comes to growing produce, Monty said on his blog that his and Sarah's goal 'is to always have a supply of a good choice of vegetables that we enjoy eating on every single day of the year'.

Chicken house

The chicken house is situated in the orchard with chestnut paling fencing.

The greenhouse

Monty's impressive glass greenhouse is packed with containers for optimum growing. The presenter often gives a glimpse into what's growing next.

Jewel Garden

The jewel garden is rich in colour and texture. It was inspired by Monty's jewellery business in the 1980s, so is packed with extravagance and character. Some of the plants growing here include dahlias, gingers, bananas, tulips, cannas, tithonias, zinnias and sunflowers, too. We can only imagine how vibrant it must look in the height of summer.

Here's another view of the glorious Jewel Garden, which Monty says really hits its stride in August and September.

Wildlife-Friendly Flowers

Monty's garden is a haven for wildlife , thanks to nectar-rich colourful flowers. There are Erythronium californium flowers, tulips, snakeshead fritillaries, muscari perennials and Erythronium 'Pagoda', too.

Paradise Garden

Monty's paradise garden is as lovely as it sounds. This space has a water feature, a simple pavilion, pomegranate and olive and citrus trees. Roses and lilies add beautiful fragrance to the garden, while bright petals add punches of colour.

READ MORE : Top 5 trees for small gardens

Herb Garden

Another scene-stealing feature is the impressive maze-like herb garden, which features a lovely bistro dining set in the centre. We couldn't imagine sitting anywhere better to soak up the afternoon sun.

Top Bar Beehive

Monty installed a colony of bees in a top bar hive in his garden in 2016.

Wildlife Pond

The pond is a great habitat for wildlife to thrive and a place to embrace the simple sounds of nature.

You'll also discover apple trees growing in the orchard. In this post, Monty shares with his followers the evolution of the orchard across the years.

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Gardeners' World presenter Monty Don shares incredible news with fans

Fancy meeting the gardening guru.

Gardeners' World star Monty Don has shared some exciting news with his fans - he will be hitting the road with a brand new tour later this year. 

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Taking to Twitter this week, the horticultural expert wrote: "I shall be going on tour this autumn  at theatres around the country. Do come along, " followed by a link where fans can purchase tickets.

WATCH: Monty Don is joined by the Duchess of Cornwall on Gardeners' World

The shows will kick off in Monty's hometown of Hereford on 29 October 2022 before heading out across England, Scotland and Wales, with the tour finale taking place at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall on 7 December 2022.

MORE:  See Gardeners' World host Monty Don's own garden

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Fans were quick to react, with one writing: " Tickets for Harrogate bought...can't wait!!" Another said: "Great, just going to book for me and our gardening club." A third added: "Next year a Global tour. Vancouver Island is beautiful anytime of the year!"

The live shows will see the 66-year-old, who has been the lead presenter on the BBC gardening programme since 2003, share tales from his lengthy career, which has taken him all over the world. For those unable to make any of the ten dates on the tour, there is a chance to tune into a live stream on 5 December 2022.

Fans will be able to meet Monty on his 10 date tour later this year

According to the organisers, he will also discuss "how he created his beautiful garden at Longmeadow, the gardening practices he considers to be the most useful and important, and the magical impact of the changing of the seasons on each part of the garden."

MORE:  Gardeners' World's Monty Don's near-death experience – the full story

The exciting announcement comes as Monty continues to provide viewers with indispensable gardening advice on the latest series of Gardeners' World.

The show, like many programmes, has suffered several setbacks as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, including production and filming being delayed and altered in order to comply with social distancing measures and so continues to use segments recorded by its green-fingered contributors on their own devices.

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An Audience with Monty Don

Venue: Royal Concert Hall

Running time: Doors open 1 hour before the performance. Show times TBC

Important Information

Under 14s must be accompanied by and adult aged 18+

Share This Event

Join BBC Gardeners’ World presenter and gardening writer, Monty Don , as he shares his passion for gardens and the unique role they play in human inspiration and wellbeing.

Monty has been making television programmes for over 30 years and has been lead presenter of the BBC’s Gardener’s World since 2003. Since 2011 the programme has come from his own garden, Longmeadow, in Herefordshire.

After a thrilling sellout tour in 2022 Monty is heading back out on tour where he will share tales from his career in gardening, detail his favourite gardens – both ancient and modern, and reveal how he fell in love with the natural world. Discover how he created his beautiful garden at Longmeadow, the gardening practices he considers to be the most useful and important, and the magical impact of the changing of the seasons on each part of the garden.

With something for seasoned gardeners and green-fingered novices alike, don’t miss the opportunity to join Monty for a timely and thought-provoking celebration of the ever-surprising and comforting presence of nature. This is the ultimate Monty Don experience.

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Join BBC Gardeners' World presenter and gardening writer, Monty Don, as he shares his passion for gardens and the unique role they play in human inspiration and wellbeing.

After a thrilling sellout tour in 2022 Monty is heading back out on tour where he will share tales from his career in gardening, detail his favourite gardens – both ancient and modern, and reveal how he fell in love with the natural world. Discover how he created his beautiful garden at Longmeadow, the gardening practices he considers to be the most useful and important, and the magical impact of the changing of the seasons on each part of the garden.

With something for seasoned gardeners and green-fingered novices alike, don’t miss out on the ultimate Monty Don experience.

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Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens: release date, exclusive interview, episode guide and everything we know

Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens sees the presenter journey through Spain to uncover its horticultural highlights.

Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens sees the Gardeners’ World presenter embark on a horticultural odyssey across Spain to discover its glorious green spaces.

In the three-parter, airing on BBC One in the UK, Monty Don travels through various parts of the country to visit a range of gardens, from private plots to city parks and neighbourhood schemes, and reveals how they have been influenced by Spain's landscapes and its rich history.

Here’s everything you need to know about Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens …

Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens — release date

The three-part series will begin on Friday, February 23 on BBC One at 8pm and will air weekly. The episodes will also be available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens — what is it about?

Following on from Monty's previous series including Monty Don's Adriatic Gardens and Monty Don's Paradise Gardens , the show sees Monty make his way through the centre of Spain before taking in the South and then the North of the country as he explores a variety of gardens that reflect the very different regions. 

Along the way, he meets the owners, designers and gardeners who have helped to create the plots, to discover what makes each garden unique and innovative and how they have been designed to suit the challenging terrain and climate.

Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens — Episode Guide

Episode One: Central Spain 

Monty Don’s 4000-kilometre journey through Spain starts in the centre, where he wonders at the gardens of the royal palace of El Escorial, north of Madrid, while in the capital itself, he sees an incredible vertical garden inside a bank and a tropical haven that has been developed in a railway station. 

“The bank garden was designed in the 1970s, when people weren't doing that kind of thing. It was unusual,” says Monty. “And the creator, Luis González-Camino, who has become one of Spain’s most respected landscape designers, was then just in his 20s, it’s extraordinary.”

Episode Two: Southern Spain

In Mallorca, Monty explores several gardens, including La Fortaleza in Puerto Pollensa, which was created in the 1920s at a converted 17th century fort. On the mainland, he visits a collection of 200,000 date palm trees in Alicante, and on the Costa del Sol, he learns about Estepona’s green project, where over 16,000 pots of flowers adorn the narrow roads.

“In Estepona, it’s about reclaiming the streets,” says Monty. “It’s restoring the former charm and making it a better place to live in – it’s like a huge communal garden. Over 100 streets have been renovated.” 

Episode Three: Northern Spain

Travelling through the verdant north, Monty enjoys the celebrated gardens at Pazo de Oca in Galicia, and a bustling allotment in the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela. In Barcelona, he meets a centenarian who grows his own rooftop produce and outside Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, he encounters the 40-foot-high Puppy statue made from plants.

“I thought I wouldn't like the puppy, but it was wonderful!” smiles Monty. “The scale’s amazing, it has around 30,000 plants and inside, it's like a spaceship with wires and a watering system. It’s kitsch but fun and dramatic.”

Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens — exclusive interview with Monty Don

What was the appeal for you?

“I thought Spain wasn't particularly a gardening country, but this was an eye-opener. It is enormous, diverse and like a collection of states each with its own customs, climate, and, of course, gardens. It was very exciting!” 

How would you define Spain’s approach to horticulture?

“There’s no one typical Spanish garden but there’s a Spanish spirit. It's a proud country, they love tradition and there’s a fierceness and extremity you see in their gardens. They make gardens in difficult conditions using ingenuity, compromise, skill and experimentation, and they think outside the conventional horticultural box."

You travel to three different regions. What makes them distinct?

“The central area’s harsh, it’s colder in winter than Britain, and hotter in summer and the soil’s poor, so you have limited plantings like low shrubs. Then an Andalusian or southern garden is essentially a patio with colourful pots. But Spain was also a Muslim country for centuries, so you also see Christian and Islamic influences in the way they use water and enclosures. And the Basque Country [in the north] is lusher with ferns, grass and herbaceous planting.” 

Several gardens you visited were designed with the impact of climate change in mind, weren’t they?

“Yes, with Spain’s extreme temperatures and summer drought, plants burn up, and then there’s flooding in winter. And what's happening in Spain now may happen to us in 10 years, so we should take note. Perhaps the most influential place I saw was Torre d'Ariant in Mallorca, which was created by a Swiss woman, Heidi Gildemeister, who made a garden which she could only water sparingly, yet it was still beautiful.” 

You also uncovered some unusual gardens, including one in a school in Madrid…

“That was fascinating because the building was designed so that every aspect is part of the pupils’ education. They have huge window boxes, so the children see birds, insects and flowers. There’s an atrium like a mini Kew Gardens with palm trees and they can do lessons there. Then outside, they grow vegetables, which are cooked for their lunch. It’s brilliant!” 

And what was it like exploring a garden on the outskirts of Madrid, which was designed around the routes the owner’s dogs naturally took through the grounds?

“Obviously I’m mad about dogs and that was extraordinary! The designer came at things sideways, so you don't have fixed paths, you can shift them around, seeing the way the dogs move and what they like, and interesting things come through. It’s inspiring.”

Have you picked up any gardening ideas from the trip?

“It has inspired me not to abuse the benign conditions we have over here. British gardeners sometimes, and I'm one of them, get carried away – just because you can grow something, it doesn't mean it's a good idea."

Finally, where would you like to visit next?

“Central Europe or South America. I’ve been to South America for Around the World in 80 Gardens [his 2008 series], but I’d like to explore it more. And I don't know Central Europe, but there are a lot of very interesting gardens there, so wouldn't that be good?!”

Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens trailer 

Sadly there isn't a trailer for the series yet, but as soon as one is released we will add it to this guide. 

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Caren has been a journalist specializing in TV for almost two decades and is a Senior Features Writer for TV Times , TV & Satellite Week and What’s On TV magazines and she also writes for What to Watch.

Over the years, she has spent many a day in a muddy field or an on-set catering bus chatting to numerous stars on location including the likes of Olivia Colman, David Tennant, Suranne Jones, Jamie Dornan, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi as well as Hollywood actors such as Glenn Close and Kiefer Sutherland.

Caren will happily sit down and watch any kind of telly (well, maybe not sci-fi!), but she particularly loves period dramas like Call the Midwife , Downton Abbey and The Crown and she’s also a big fan of juicy crime thrillers from Line of Duty to Poirot .

In her spare time, Caren enjoys going to the cinema and theatre or curling up with a good book.

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Monty Don's top 5 gardens in the USA – take a taster tour now...

These AMAZING gardens have belonged to Bob Hope and Barry Manilow, and been enjoyed by the Hollywood greats, including Marlon Brando and Greta Garbo... take a taster tour

We're always encouraging our readers to look at amazing garden ideas – but mostly they're utterly attainable, budget-friendly and suitable for small spaces. 

Get ready for a change of direction: today, we bring you property porn no gardening fan can resist: five of the best American gardens you'll ever see. They are gardens that have belonged to Bob Hope and Barry Manilow, have been rented by Marlon Brando, and hosted parties attended by Ginger Rogers and Greta Garbo. Taken from Monty Don's new book, American Gardens , these gardens are only for those with budgets equivalent to the GDP of small countries. Still, it doesn't stop us looking. 

American Gardens by Monty Don and Derry Moore, £30.80 Available in hard cover at the moment, this book makes a wonderful gift for gardening enthusiasts and design fans alike – or simply buy it for your own coffee table to enjoy with a cuppa...

For the book, which complements the BBC TV series, Monty Don travelled across America with celebrated photographer Derry Moore to trace the fascinating histories of outdoor spaces which epitomize or redefine the American garden. 

They look at a variety of gardens and outdoor spaces at the centre of American history including the slave garden at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate, Longwood Gardens in Delaware, and Middleton Place in South Carolina. Together, they visit verdant oases designed by modernist architects such as Richard Neutra. They delve into urban outdoor spaces, looking at New York City's Central Park, Lurie Garden at the southern end of Millennium Park in Chicago, and the Seattle Spheres. 

Derry Moore gives his unique perspective on gardens across the United States, including several not featured in the TV series. These include unpublished photographs of Bob Hope's Palm Springs home and garden of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright – you can see that one below. Keep scrolling and, enjoy. Or as they say in the US of A: 'You're welcome.'

1. Dawnridge garden, California

e Mrs Hutton Wilkinson in the garden at Dawnridge

'Dawnridge belonged to Tony and Elizabeth Duquette and epitomises the world of fantasy held together just long enough for the camera to roll or the party to last,' says Monty Don in the book. 'It is a garden cobbled together from bits and pieces and is all smoke and mirrors – and yet it works. Tony Duquette had worked as a designer of jewellery, costumes, interiors and, above all, stage sets when he and his wife, who was a painter, moved into the house. At the time it was a tiny 30-by-30-foot box, but it nevertheless quickly became the scene of famous Hollywood parties attended by Ginger Rogers, Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson and Aldous Huxley, among others. 

'Marlon Brando rented the house in 1952 during the filming of Julius Caesar. It was never the Duquettes’ only house – they lived in Paris and San Francisco and had a ranch in Malibu – but it was always a constant, and, above all, a party house. The garden really came into being rather later, when the house next door burnt down in 1973 and Tony Duquette bought the plot to extend his garden. It is now a wild melange of Indonesian, classical, Indian and European objects and assemblies all layered upon each other... Duquette made buildings that have a touch of Thai Buddhist stupa, a hint of Hindu temple and a smidgeon of Shinto shrine, all constructed from trellis, recycled doors, disco mirrors and fibreglass. 

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'There is a treehouse with a domed roof taken from a film set and with walls made from Second World War landing strips. There are pillars made from recycled tin cans sitting on top of ancient Islamic brass columns, unconcealed concrete block walls, old gateposts and fencing material with hinges roughly nailed to hold elaborately carved gates that are then painted and adorned and assembled to create what looks like an elaborate set for a party – which is exactly what it was.' 

After Duquette died, his business partner Hutton Wilkinson continued to develop the garden in Duquette’s spirit. At any moment you expect Ava Gardner to emerge from this Thai- and Islamic-inspired confection

2. Bob Hope house and garden, California

'I decided to visit Bob Hope’s house in California, drawn by how its extraordinary placement on a hillside overlooking the Palm Springs valley would photograph. It was designed in the late 1960s by John Lautner. The house itself is like one vast sculpture.' And, of course, the garden is one vast golf course and leisure park – although, obviously private.

3. Palo Cristi garden, Arizona

Steve Martino on the terrace at Palo Cristi

'Like me, Steve Martino loves deserts. But unlike me, Steve really, really knows deserts. Steve Martino also loves gardens, and he has spent his life combining these two passions into making gardens that use and celebrate the desert,' comments Monty. 

'He has described his style as "weeds and walls" because desert plants have for so long been regarded as weeds, and he has from the first used them with the conviction that they are not just beautiful but right... Ironwood trees, agave, ocotillo and cacti spread shadow patterns on the pale grey walls of the house. "These shadows", Steve tells me, "are more important design features than the plants themselves. You have to design with light in the desert. The light is always harsh so you soften it by playing with shadows, and that gives you movement." 

Softness is an odd word to use in the face of the spines and angles of the plants and the grit and stone underfoot, but I am thinking like a northerner. Shade is the ultimate friend here, and in its embrace light and heat provide the softness you need – and all the softness you are likely to get.'

The vertical strangeness of cacti creates a series of carefully positioned sculptural shapes and spaces against the backdrop of the painted walls

4. Vizcaya garden, Miami, Florida

The house reflected in a pool – one of many places revealing the influence of Tuscan villas

The owner of Vizcaya James Deering was, what Monty Don calls, 'limitlessly rich'. In 1912 he  bought 180 acres of land in the Biscayne area of Miami and on this land he built his house and garden, which he called Vizcaya. 

'Everything about Vizcaya is operatic, staged and mannered,' says Monty. 'It is house and garden as performance in the same vein as Isola Bella, or indeed any of the great Italian houses and gardens from which it derives so much. Guests would arrive by boat into a little harbour created by a breakwater modelled to look like a barge, and then, guided by the striped Venetian landing posts, take the steps up onto the quay or terrace and on up into the house, built to look like a Tuscan palazzo. 

'The gardens, which are beautifully made and beautifully restored and maintained despite hurricanes and the depredations of time, blithely cherry-pick aspects from Italian gardens. There are pools, cascades and fountains, a grotto, topiary, clipped lines of trees and parterres, a theatre garden and maze garden, a casino raised on a mound, and glorious flights of steps balustraded and bedecked with urns.'

Italian Baroque at its most fanciful and exuberant in one of the many enclosed areas at Vizcaya

5. Kaufmann house and garden, Palm Springs, California

The swimming pool, known from an iconic photograph taken by Slim Aarons in 1970

'This ... house [was] designed by the architect Richard Neutra for the department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann to spend his winters... It was built in 1947 and is still the epitome of Desert Modernism... If this is not the archetypal icon of the American Dream – a little too sun-kissed and easy for that – it certainly exemplifies California Dreamin’. It has the same impact as a Hockney painting. 

'The steps of the pool run across almost the entire width of the garden and start from the house, so there is no break, no season of ‘going outside’ to play or relax. It is a seamless line of pleasure... [T]he house was originally set in the desert, but... was open both to be seen and to the view – and that openness was part of the brave new Californian modern world it represented. It is now surrounded by other houses and has a high hedge to protect it from the coachloads of tourists who come to try and catch a glimpse of it – not, I suspect, for its iconic architectural status so much as for the fact that it once belonged to the singer Barry Manilow.'

The carefully planted garden at the rear of the house uses the desert and its vegetation rather than trying to escape it

And now, back down to earth with a bump:

• Small garden ideas : 38 ways to perfect your small garden design
• Cheap garden ideas : 25 ways to save money on your garden design

Lucy is Global Editor-in-Chief of Homes & Gardens having worked on numerous interiors and property titles. She was founding Editor of Channel 4’s 4Homes magazine, was Associate Editor at Ideal Home, before becoming Editor-in-Chief of Realhomes.com in 2018 then moving to Homes & Gardens in 2021. She has also written for Huffington Post, AOL, UKTV, MSN, House Beautiful, Good Homes, and many women’s titles. Find her writing about everything from buying and selling property, self build, DIY, design and consumer issues to gardening.

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NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

John Cleese, 84, spending £17,000 a year to stay young

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Monty Python star John Cleese admitted he is cashing out £17,000 a year for stem cell therapy in a bid for eternal youth.

The British comedy veteran may be 84 going on 85 but if his bank account expenses are anything to go by, he’s feeling as fresh as a spring chicken.

The booked and busy actor shared why he doesn’t ‘look bad for 84’ in a new interview. He revealed he has been having stem cell therapy every 12-18 months for the past 20 years.

But the real catch comes with the eye-watering price tag attached to the anti-ageing process, coming in at a whopping £17,000. That means Cleese has spent in the ballpark of £250,000 since he started the treatment.

‘These cells travel around the body and when they discover a place that needs repair, they’ll then change into the cells that you want for that repair, so they might become cartilage cells or liver cells,’ he explained to Saga Magazine about the process.

‘So I think that’s why I don’t look bad for 84.’

Cleese shared he only uses the ‘highest quality stem cells’ sourced from a place in Montreux, Switzerland called La Prairie.

‘If you’re buying yourself a few extra years, I think it’s worth it,’ he added.

He also praised his jewellery designer wife Jennifer Wade, 52, for keeping him young.

‘I mean, it is sad to think I shall die some time before she will, but I’m in pretty good health,’ Cleese said.

‘I’m not fit, but the way I put it is that the doctors don’t yet know what I’m going to die of.’

The news comes as a surprise since, elsewhere in the interview, the Fawlty Towers actor confessed he was ‘surprisingly poor’ since his 2008 divorce from third wife Alyce Faye. The expensive split resulted in Cleese offering a $20million (£16million) payout.

What is stem cell therapy?

There are multiple forms of stem cell treatment. Under the NHS, stem cell transplants are traditionally used to treat conditions affecting the blood cells, such as leukaemia and lymphoma.

Anti-ageing stem cell treatment is regarded as a regenerative medicinal practice but there is still little evidence-based research to prove its effects, according to a report in The Telegraph.

Private clinics have cropped up across the globe to provide stem cell therapyfor the wealthy but few have been officially approved by government authorities.

According to Cleese, the divorce forced him to downsize from a mortgage-free pad in Holland Park to a full mortgage flat on Sloane Square. This led to The Alimony Tour to replenish funds.

‘How they figured out she was worth $20m, I have no idea,’ he said, slamming the ‘absurd’ amount of money.

‘I’m surprisingly poor, never thought it was necessary to own a great deal,’ Cleese added. ‘The most important thing is to have enough money to have some really good food, buy clothes twice a year and have nice holidays,’ he added.

And now we can add stem cell therapy to the list.

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Cleese rose to fame with his British comedy troupe Monty Python formed in 1969 alongside Graham Chapman , Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle , Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. He is also well-known for his portrayal of Nearly Headless Nick in the Harry Potter series.

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Kew the Music - An Evening with Monty Don, Monday 8th July 2024

• Monday, 8 July 2024
• 5:00 pm 9:00 pm 17:00 21:00
• Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB United Kingdom (map)
• Google Calendar ICS

Join BBC Gardeners' World presenter and gardening writer, Monty Don, as he shares his passion for gardens and the unique role they play in human inspiration and wellbeing.

Monty has been making television programmes for over 30 years and has been lead presenter of the BBC’s Gardener’s World since 2003. Since 2011 the programme has come from his own garden, Longmeadow, in Herefordshire.

After a thrilling sellout tour in 2022 Monty is heading back out on tour where he will share tales from his career in gardening, detail his favourite gardens – both ancient and modern, and reveal how he fell in love with the natural world. Discover how he created his beautiful garden at Longmeadow, the gardening practices he considers to be the most useful and important, and the magical impact of the changing of the seasons on each part of the garden.

With something for seasoned gardeners and green-fingered novices alike, don’t miss the opportunity to join Monty for a timely and thought-provoking celebration of the ever-surprising and comforting presence of nature. This is the ultimate Monty Don experience.

Politics latest: Labour and Lib Dems to back no-confidence motion in Yousaf; migrants picked for first Rwanda flights, Number 10 says

Scotland's first minister Humza Yousaf is facing the prospect of a vote of no-confidence after ending the SNP's deal with the Greens; Downing Street says the first flight has been booked after the Rwanda bill became law.

Thursday 25 April 2024 15:10, UK

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• Scottish Labour and Scottish Lib Dems to back motion of no confidence in first minister, Sky News understands
• Yousaf says deal with Greens has 'served its purpose' as he confirms agreement scrapped
• Party accuses first minister of 'act of political cowardice'
• Rwanda bill becomes law  |  First flight has been booked, Number 10 says
• Rob Powell:  Royal assent 'the easy bit' as legal challenges and key deterrence test loom
• Rail shake-up will deliver 'significant' savings for taxpayer, Labour says
• Sam Coates:  It will be popular with the public, but will the railways be better off under Labour's plans?
• Sky News/YouGov polling finds spiralling level of distrust in politics since last election
• The Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge will  be live in Grimsby with a special programme from 7pm
• Live reporting by Charlotte Chelsom-Pill

Former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has said the collapse of the power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens today is a "pretty bitter divorce".

Speaking on Sky News' latest Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Tory peer says: "This isn't a conscious uncoupling like Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin. I mean, this is a proper a bitter doozy."

She says it will be "really interesting" to see whether the Greens are "so angry" that they vote with other opposition parties in Holyrood, having previously been "pretty willing allies of the SNP". 

"It will be really interesting as we go forward to find out whether they want to exact revenge or whether they're going to be more independent-minded than they have previously been in previous parliaments," she says.

Earlier, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said the SNP can no longer rely on its votes in parliament after First Minister Humza Yousaf terminated the deal ( see post at 1.31pm ).

Mr Yousaf will now lead a minority government ( see post at 10.16am ). 

Ruth says the move was a "sign of weakness" from Mr Yousaf. 

"He had to pull the trigger before he was dumped," she says. 

You can hear Ruth's comments in full on Sky News' latest Electoral Dysfunction podcast - out at 6am tomorrow. 

👉 Tap here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈

Email Beth, Jess, and Ruth at  [email protected] , post on X to @BethRigby, or send a WhatsApp voice note on 07934 200 444.

This was a trip with two aims: to refocus the world's attention on Ukraine and announce a big boost in defence spending - with an eye, of course, on national security, but also on the general election.

When it comes to Ukraine, this was a co-ordinated effort across the Atlantic.

As Rishi Sunak arrived in Berlin, overnight in Washington the US was finally approving a $600m military aid package for Kyiv.

This was all designed to send a message to Russia - allies are in lockstep and will stand behind Ukraine for as long as it takes.

The prime minister used the Poland leg of the trip to commit the UK to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence by 2030, while in Berlin, Mr Sunak announced a formal bilateral security partnership with Germany to deepen co-operation on defence and military manufacturing.

It was all part of his agenda to position himself as a wartime leader, speaking of the UK's defence industry going onto a war footing as Europe stood at a turning point.

"The world we are living in is increasingly dangerous and the axis of authoritarian states are working together to undermine our security," he told his audience in Berlin.

"We need to do more. Germany has done more and we have met the NATO standard [on spending], and you see global defence spending is rising."

Mr Sunak added: "I do believe we will look back at this moment in time and recognise this inflection point, where the old paradigm is no longer the case and we need to adjust for a new paradigm."

Read Beth's full analysis here:

People voting in local elections in England on 2 May will need to provide photo ID.

It is the second year the requirement has been in place - but in 2023,  14,000 people couldn't cast their ballot because they didn't take ID to the polling booth.

There are 22 different types of ID you can use - and if you don't have any of them, you can register for a Voter Authority Certificate.

Here's everything you need to know to avoid being caught out:

The Scottish Labour Party and Scottish Lib Dems are to back a motion of no confidence in First Minister Humza Yousaf, Sky News understands.

It comes after the Scottish Conservatives confirmed they have lodged the motion after the power-sharing agreement between the SNP and Scottish Greens collapsed.

Mr Yousaf is now leading a minority government. 

Sky's Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies has said the Greens "are absolutely furious," and are due to meet by the end of the day to decide how they are going to vote. 

Connor says if Mr Yousaf loses the vote, expected next week, the SNP would have to install a new leader within 28 days.

The SNP have 63 seats in the Scottish parliament. 

The Scottish Conservatives have 31, Scottish Labour have 22 and the Scottish Liberal Democrats have four - a combined number of 57.

The Greens have seven MSPs.

There is also one Alba Party MSP and a presiding officer of no party affiliation. 

By Nick Martin , people and politics correspondent 

June gives me a wry smile when I ask her if she trusts politicians. But it soon fades.

"They promise you the Earth, and you don't see anything. And it's soul destroying," she says.

I meet her and husband Joe as they tuck into fish and chips in the town's oldest chippy, the Peabung, which has served this town since 1883.

June tells me she really wants to trust politicians but they "just mess it up every time". I ask Joe if he thinks politicians care about him? "Well hopefully they do. I'm not sure really."

He stops to think for a moment. "I don't really trust politicians," he says.

The findings of a Sky News/YouGov poll are stark and echo how voters like June and Joe feel. The findings suggest voters no longer believe what politicians say.

In some places, there appears to be a deep loss of faith in British politics.

Shannon Donnelly has nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok and has used the platform to develop her Grimsby-based business selling personal safety equipment, such as panic alarms. I ask her if she trusts politicians.

"No - I think things like Brexit has massively changed people's opinion. I won't forget when they said all that money would go to the NHS.

"Now we seem to be in a worse position, but they still expect us to trust them. It's crazy."

Read more here:

The Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge is going to be live in Grimsby tonight with a special programme in our Target Towns series. She'll be talking about trust in politics with a live audience - that's live tonight on Sky News at 7pm.

By Professor Will Jennings, Sky election analyst

The morning after the 2019 general election, Boris Johnson pledged to people in the North East who had voted Conservative for the first time that he and the party would "repay your trust".

That year was the Brexit election, and the Conservatives ultimately won because they and Mr Johnson were trusted to "get Brexit done" - Jeremy Corbyn was not.

Five years on, exclusive polling by YouGov for Sky News finds that since then, the number of people saying they "almost never" trust the British government to place the needs of the nation above the interests of their own party has nearly doubled - from 26% to 49%.

This spiralling level of distrust has been greatest for the bedrock of the Conservative's electoral coalition - those who voted to leave the EU in 2016.

The percentage of Leavers saying they "almost never" trust government has leapt by 33 points (from 23% to 56%) since the last election - twice as much as the increase for Remainers.

It is the sort of people who live in places like Grimsby and Cleethorpes, which voted heavily to Leave the EU - by nearly 70% - who have lost most trust in British politics since 2019.

The SNP can't rely on Scottish Green votes in parliament, Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie has said, after a power-sharing agreement between the two parties collapsed. 

First Minister Humza Yousaf terminated the deal earlier today and will now lead a minority government ( see post at 10.16am ).

In a news conference earlier, Mr Yousaf said he would look forward to cooperating with the Greens "on an issue by issue basis".

However, the Greens have said their support can't be depended on.

"The issues which matter to the Scottish Greens were core to the Bute House Agreement - ramping up climate action, standing up for tenants' rights, and protecting the most vulnerable people in society," Mr Harvie said, in reference to the power-sharing deal.

"We were committed to making a difference on these, day in, day out, as part of the Scottish government.

"Instead, Humza Yousaf has chosen to rely on social conservatives and the right wing of his party to run a minority government.

"That has significant consequences for how the Scottish Greens position ourselves in parliament, and the first minister cannot rely on Green support while being dictated to by forces on the right."

Earlier, the Scottish Conservatives announced they are lodging a motion of no confidence in Mr Yousaf ( see post at 12.17pm ).

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the UK will stand behind Ukraine "whatever it takes" as he met Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

His trip comes after the government announced a £500m package of military aid to Ukraine.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also committed to long-term support as part of a move to increase the UK's defence budget.

Mr Hunt said the onus is now Ukraine's allies to "pile the pressure on Putin and help restore peace and prosperity in Europe".

"Ukraine's security is our security and the billions in funding and equipment Britain has provided to date is just the start of a longer-term commitment to supporting them in their struggle with Russia for as long as it takes," he said. 

The Ukrainian president told Mr Hunt the "crucial support" was "very important".

Writing on social media, he thanked "the people, the government, the prime Minister, and the parliament of the United Kingdom for their support of Ukraine".

"We highly value our countries' partnership," he said.

With the local elections just over a week away, deputy political editor Sam Coates explains why they matter and what they might tell us about the upcoming general election.

A point of process but a symbolic moment nonetheless, royal assent means Rishi Sunak's Rwanda bill has been signed off by the monarch and is now law.

But this is likely the easy bit.

The new legislation will now no doubt be stress-tested by the courts in the coming weeks, as refugee charities – and their lawyers – look for chinks in the government's armour.

Campaigners have already said they are identifying migrants who may be singled out for deportation and will be lodging legal challenges.

A looming clash with the European Court of Human Rights is also possible - presenting a test for Rishi Sunak's vow to not let any "foreign court" block flights.

So there is a way to go.

What's more - for all the drama around Rwanda, it's important to remember that success for the prime minister should not be solely judged by how many people are put on planes to Kigali.

True success is if this scheme does indeed have a deterrent effect on people crossing the channel.

It will take many months to establish that.

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