Monty Don’s Paradise Gardens (2018)

A two-part BBC television series with British gardener and broadcaster, Monty Don. Monty Don travels the Islamic world and beyond from Morocco to India in search of Paradise Gardens celebrated in the Koran and uncovers the influence they've have had back in the UK.

Episode I: Spain, Morocco and Iran | ( Click here to watch )
(58 min; English)
Director: Jason Holmes

Monty starts in Spain, a country synonymous with Christian traditions but which, for 800 years, was actually Islamic. At the Alhambra, he discovers the basic building blocks of paradise gardens - green spaces divided into four by channels of water that meet at a central fountain. In Seville, Monty explores their symbolic significance. Water is the key feature of these gardens. In Morocco, Monty discovers the wide variety of paradise gardens. But it is Monty's final stop that sheds the most light on the origins of these incredible gardens. In Iran, he explores the huge influence emanating from the gardens of old Persia. In the cultural centres of Isfahan, Kashan and Shiraz, Monty visits some of the most exquisite gardens in the world and then in the middle of the desert, comes across the secret to their creation.