Though the British heatwave has everyone craving a day of rain to cool things down, Monty Don was hit by the effects of a different type of extreme weather earlier this year when his house flooded.
"I live in Herefordshire. We live on a flood plain, so flooding has always been part of life there," he said in January. "But it's definitely got worse. It's definitely got more frequent."
He continued, explaining that the weather left him and his wife, Sarah, trapped in their home. "My wife and I couldn't get out of the house or garden. We were flooded in," he said. "No one could come in, no one can go out. That's fine [but] I have a 97-year-old neighbour. If anything had happened to him, it would have been a helicopter time, I guess."
© GettyMonty's concerns about extreme weather at home
The Gardeners' World host, 70, lamented about the effect of climate change on gardeners more generally, saying: "Twenty years ago, if you'd asked me about climate change, I would have said that we're going to be in a Mediterranean climate, and we need to adapt to that.
© Instagram"I think what's shaping up is, we have these big events, and our gardens are very wet, and they're very dry, and they're very cold, and that's tricky."
© InstagramHELLO!'s Homes Editor, Rachel Avery, feels Monty's pain. "The issue of flooding is leaving more and more homes in the UK vulnerable, especially if they are located near a water source," she says. "Monty Don lives at Longmeadow, which is located on a flood plain, and while he can’t change that, he can implement measures to help when heavy rains fall.
© Instagram"The National Flood Forum has its own guide for people in flood-prone areas, and it includes advice about flood resilience technology like barriers and pumps."
Step inside Monty's home
Monty's home, or Longmeadow as he calls it, is a beautiful Tudor cottage which he has lived in since October 1991.
© InstagramIt originally sat on a two-acre abandoned field, but now features four individual gardens. The house itself has also undergone a glow-up.
© Instagram"When we bought this house, it was a ruin – no roof, electricity, running water or sanitation," Monty told The English Home. "It took 10 years to finish the initial building work, but it has been a privilege and joy to restore."
© InstagramIt boasts a sumptuous living room, classic farmhouse kitchen, and four bedrooms.
Raising his family
Longmeadow also provided the backdrop for the childhoods of Monty's three children – Adam, Freya, and Thomas.
© InstagramMonty has spoken openly about the bond he shares with his grown-up children and how it differs from the relationship he had with his own father.
"I think as every father will say, 'You do your best'. I think because my own relationship with my father was pretty distant and straight, I both wanted it to be closer and more informal, but I wasn't terribly good," the horticulturalist told the AI Michael Parkinson podcast.
© Nick Harvey/Shutterstock"I had to learn how to be a father, and I made mistakes, and my guess is every parent makes mistakes. I was much more work-oriented."
