Gardeners' World's Monty Don fears 'I haven’t got endless time left' as he debates future
Monty Don has said he could quit Gardeners' World 'within the next five years' after spending more than two decades fronting the popular BBC programme.
Gardeners’ World star Monty Don says he “hasn’t got endless time left” while addressing his future on the hit TV show.
Monty, 68, became the lead host of the BBC show in 2003, taking over from former Ground Force star Alan Titchmarsh. But he says he is acutely aware that he is now older than both of his parents were when they died.
It is his troubled upbringing and distant relationship with his parents that Monty says helped shape him. He confesses he always felt like the “black sheep” of his family, despite having a relatively privileged childhood.
He attended boarding school but hated it, eventually getting expelled when he was a teenager. Monty believes his “difficult” start in life could have landed him in prison in a “different environment”.
However, he met wife Sarah when he was studying his postgraduate degree, and the pair “became a team”. They married in 1982 and children Adam, Tom and Freya together.
Having overcome the challenges facing him as a youngster, Monty has recently started to considered his future on Gardeners' World.
Speaking to The Guardian back in November last year, he said: “I haven’t got endless time left. If I’m still going strong in 20 years, that will be brilliant, but 20 years ago doesn’t seem so long ago.”
Monty, however, revealed he plans to leave Gardeners’ World “within the next five years” to save his time and energy for more documentaries.
It will be a difficult pill for fans to swallow, with Monty’s signature “Hello” as he digs his garden becoming a trademark of the show.
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The presenter will be back on screens tonight at 9pm for a new episode of Gardeners' World. He will be continuing his preparations for 2025 by planting daffodils in the ground and offering advice on dealing with bindweed.
Monty bought his Longmeadow garden in the 1990s, confessing he “couldn’t buy a parking space in London” for what he paid for the Herefordshire plot. In order to keep it fit for television, he also employs two full-time gardeners.
Monty purchased the property when the garden was just an abandoned two-acre field filled with grass, nettles and brambles in 1991. Now, the property includes an impressive greenhouse where the presenter grows crops and flowers, a vegetable patch, The Cottage Garden, The Jewel Garden and The Paradise Garden.
The house meanwhile was a “ruin” and had no roof, electricity, running water or toilets. It took Monty and Sarah 10 years to finish the building work.
