The 17th Century - S1.E1

Monty Don uncovers the extraordinary stories behind Britain's 17th-century gardens. Starting his journey at the sole surviving garden of the 1600s - Levens Hall in Cumbria - Monty sets out to investigate what the gardens of this age would have looked like and what influenced and inspired their creation.

Along the way, he sees a long-lost garden that - through archaeology and a German Luftwaffe photograph taken in the 1940s - reveals the hidden messages and religious beliefs of our 17th-century forebears. And Monty heads to Hampton Court, where politics, civil war and religious conflict played a key role in the evolving designs and fashions, including tastes in food, of the nation's finest gardens.