Does everyone have a decided view on Monty Don?.

[Weirdconditionaltense]

I remember not long after starting a job about 10 years ago my boss he was always a really really lovely man, for some reason we must have been talking about gardening, and he said he disliked Monty Don. I was shocked because for one thing that current boss was very laid back and didn't have any extreme views on anybody and secondly, because I have no extreme view on Monty Don.

Just seen another thread where someone dislikes him. What is there to dislike about Monty Don? He's just a gardener isn't he?

How can anyone have a strong view on him ?

Those prices are insane!

I use French stuff for gardening. I have a Breton fisherman's smock (exactly like the v neck Newlyn smocks) bought for twenty odd quid nearly 20 years ago and still going strong.

More recently I bought some French blue overalls for more serious coverage, they are bulletproof and will see me out.

He’s got a very relaxing voice.

The Newlyn ones are fine and a good price as are the Yarmo.
The L&W quality is much better. It's just a slop so does it really matter - it will to some.

You can get army boilersuits for next to nothing.

Thinking woman's totty!

Well, presumably he does when he’s not making TV programmes in it!😂

@ShakyBakewhat did I just read??! Come on tell us more!

I like him. Unlike Alan Titchmarsh who I can't abide. I find him treacly and insincere.

No he doesn't,never has friends over at all,family only. He said so on the Chelsea Flower Show, the other presenters eyebrows nearly shot off her forehead!

I didn’t like him on HIGNFY, never heard of him in my life, googled him when he was on it when I was not enjoying the show thinking who is this guy?! Never watched gardening shows.

I had to google him. He’s just a tv presenter?

I don’t have a garden but always have Gardener’s World on. I find it soothing. Was slightly put off MD last year when he was completely patronising to one of the female gardeners on Chelsea Flower Show last year. I was surprised at his edge. It was picked up on elsewhere.

MD became famous with Americans during pandemic. There was a black musician (think he was a rapper) from US appearing on The One Show a few years ago who lost his shit when he knew Monty was on (with one of his dogs). Wanted photos to show his mum, they loved to watch him together!

Monty Don is on me and my husband's fantasy neighbours list.

I know he suffers from depression. I guess that doesn’t make you ‘mr social’ does it?

You obviously don’t know his full story, he was originally a very stylish costume jewellery designer in the 1980s but lost, literally everything, in the 1987 crash. He managed to create a new career but during that time he sold, all of the furniture from his home to keep afloat.

My sister was gifted a pair of his earrings, which even now elicit compliments, and yes, they are stunning.

DH watches GW religiously so I feel like I've had plenty of exposure really. His admiration stems from Monty being a hobbyist rather than a professional, DH is a self taught hobbyist too.

MD is inoffensive and calming on TV- I prefer the gardens around the world programs he does. I do like his style, understated. It reminds me a little of a late uncle who's work clothes were almost all Margaret Howell- well made, relaxed fit and he never ironed either.

For utterly irrational dislike I find watching Mary Berry unsettling, no idea why!

It’s odd for me to realise that not everyone here is old enough to have seen him first appearing with his wife on ‘Good Morning’ or some other breakfast TV show, way back in the depths of time when they started their jewellery business. I distinctly recall being charmed by him and by the jewellery, so it was a surprise when he later turned up as a fully fledged TV gardener.

He seems utterly inoffensive. Bit like Mary Berry.

When I was about 14 or 15, I was desperate for some Monty Don earrings. I got some as a Christmas gift and loved them. They were truly hideous looking back. Crystal drops with a satin bow - very 80s. I wonder what became of them. Knowing me, I undoubtedly binned them at some point.

Weirdconditionaltense I do actually. I think my husband may be a teensy bit jealous of my love for Monty and the same goes for my BIL, as his wife also adores Monty. Come to think of it, a very good male friend dislikes him with a passion - nothing to do with his wife's feelings for Monty (I don't believe she has any), but he feels Monty is a supercilious know it all - OUTRAGEOUS!!!

God, I think Mary Berry is mildly terrifying -- helmet hair, piercing gaze, Tory politics. She's a culinary Margaret Thatcher.

I do like him. He has a very nice garden thanksto his many minions
He has nice dogs too

Half the men I know adore him in some deeply male way that is halfway between a homoerotic crush and Daddy Issues!

(This thread is giving me flashbacks to what I remember of Monty Don Jewellery -- the ones I particularly remember were a pair of giant faux pearl cli- on drop earrings, but with the pearls hanging from large bows of ribbon.)

I can’t say I dislike him - I don’t know him - but I find his TV persona smug and rather tedious, so don’t watch (or read) stuff he does.

Why did you carry him and how did you manage for 2 miles?? You must be so fit!

Live monty don but suspect he's as flawed as any of us when you know him well.

Yes, he literally lost everything - the business, the small Central house with garden but luckily still had enough capital to buy longmeadow with it's large, rambling timber framed house and all those fields running behind his neighbours gardens.
Going for London auditions with no money except a house and supportive wife back home. No need for as Jarvis sang in Common People for Monty to 'watch his dreams slide out of view'.

The book The Jewell garden is good but the privilege, the starting point even when things went wrong.