he notices the little things that so many of us 'gardeners' and outdoor people notice and gives lots of interesting extra facts. All in all a worthy read and it certainly has made me watch what is going in my garden more closely.

It deals with the course of the natural year month by month, so is broken down into bite-sized chunks, which I like.For anyone who watches Gardeners World and is familiar with Monty Dons famous dog, Nigel, there is a beautiful piece at the end of the book detailing the death of this gorgeous dog…. A journey through the natural year , month by month, season by season, observed from the immediate world around him. The book is a Season by Season, month by month journal of sorts, cataloguing the observations of plant and animal life as they emerge and appear over the course of a year. This is not so much Monty the gardener and celebrity but more the naturalist and country man, in the manner of a latter day Jack Hargreaves. There are full page colour photos for each season included in the book and Monty's descriptions and anecdotes are more than enough to bring to life the magic he sees and observes as a outdoors man submerged in nature.

But over the past 20 years, their appearances have become increasingly infrequent, increasingly brief. Many of you, like me, will know Monty Don through his TV documentaries and Gardener's World - and viewers came to love his gentle golden retriever, Nigel who died the day after Monty finished writing this book. After lending this to a couple of people who I know will love it, I will keep it as a source of reference about animals and plants. My only criticism is I wish it had been purposefully written in a His previous books include the Sunday Times bestseller Nigel, The Jewel Garden, Paradise Gardens and Japanese Gardens with Derry Moore , which was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Awards. Dedicated to ‘Nigel, 2008-2020’, it pensively follows with the opening lines of ‘Afterwards’, by Thomas Hardy. His lifelong enthusiasm and fascination with nature (the cute bits and the harsh bits) shines through.

I also found his way of talking about hunting/killing a bit brutal, but then he is a farmer - and living in Devon, I know that death is a part of farming and most farmers talk about it as they would any other part of life. I grew to enjoy his no nonsense criticism of human practices that have destroyed so much of the natural world. There are also some lovely pictures of the garden and the farm as well as Nigel including the last one ever taken. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Monty has sectioned the book into the four seasons with a month by month observations of what he may or may not have been seen in the garden and up at the farm.Best Christmas Releases* -- While some gardeners appear bent on suppressing nature, Monty Don loves and works with it. He doesn't hold back from being blunt about the decline and endangerment of so many species, or about the reality of country life and pursuits like hunting or shooting but most of all, it is an ode to the natural world and the wonder and joy it so obviously brings to our lives, if we just take a minute to stop and look around us. The book is presented almost as a yearly diary annotating the events and interactions with wildlife - both flaura and fauna.

Monty has a lovely writing style that makes this book very enjoyable as well as a great learning tool for gardeners.If, in our own modest back yards, we can help preserve and treasure our natural world then we will make the world a better place -- not just for ourselves but for every living creature.