Monty Don has shared dramatic photos of his Herefordshire garden underwater after a storm dumped a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours.
The presenter of Gardeners’ World reflected on life on a flood plain and the challenges of extreme weather.
Despite the disruption, he emphasised gratitude that the flooding affected only his garden and fields, not homes or businesses.
Flooding hits Longmeadow
Monty Don’s Instagram posts, including the understated “Morning” and the later note “A little wet in the garden this morning after yesterday’s storm that dropped a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours,” showed the rapid rise of floodwaters.
His Herefordshire home, Longmeadow, where much of Gardeners’ World is filmed, was partially submerged, with familiar garden paths and borders turned into reflective pools.
Longmeadow – a labour of love
Longmeadow wasn’t always the celebrated garden it is today. When Monty and his wife bought the property in 1991, it was essentially a two-acre abandoned field.
They spent ten years restoring it, creating the garden that has since become iconic on television and in gardening circles.
That history gives added perspective to the current flooding: this is not just a garden, but a personal life’s work.
Why flooding is a familiar challenge to Monty Don
Monty lives on a flood plain next to water meadows, so floods have long been part of life at Longmeadow.
Yet he acknowledges that flooding is now more frequent, linking extreme rainfall events to climate change.
To manage the increasingly wet conditions, Monty has installed drainage in his garden using perforated pipes to handle excess rainwater. He’s also been thinking about planting more resilient species – plants that can survive both drought and deluge – as part of adapting to what he calls the new “wet-dry” gardening reality.
Despite the disruption, he describes the floodwaters as having a “transformative beauty.”
Monty’s dog Ned doesn’t seemed concerned with the flooding
Even in the midst of flooding, life goes on. Monty shared a moment with his golden retriever, Ned: “The small matter of a major flood is not going to stop Ned retrieving his ball!”
Monty has remained calm throughout the experience as well, emphasising perspective: while many in the region have suffered serious damage to homes, his garden is lucky to be the only casualty.
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