TV gardener Monty Don, who lives near Leominster, said yesterday, Tuesday, he intended to make a full recovery after suffering a minor stroke six weeks ago.
The 52-year-old was making his first public appearance at the Hay Festival since stepping down from Gardeners’ World last week.
In front of an audience of several hundred people, Monty, of Ivington, said he was “very happy” to have relieved himself of the 12-hour day filming schedules of the programme while he recovers.
The presenter and writer said he was enjoying pottering around since taking a break and commented on the number of people who said he was looking better lately.
To rapturous applause, he added: “I intend to make a full recovery and do what I can when I can”, before going on to talk about such major issues close to his heart as food production, climate change and organic gardening.
The horticulturist – who overcame a long period of depression before taking up his gardening career – has been missing from the long-running BBC2 programme’s line-up for a month and a half as a result of his minor stroke.
