Inside Monty Don's life off-screen from financial loss to 'intense' first meeting wife

Monty Don's dog takes dip in puddle after his walk

Green-fingered Gardeners' World star Monty Don has been a familiar and friendly face on our TV screens for decades.

The 69-year-old presenter has fronted Gardeners' World since 2003 and has entertained millions with his gardening tips from his beautiful garden.

The Gardeners' World star initially made a name for himself in a completely different field before devastating circumstances forced him to look for another profession.

He credits nature and gardening for saving his life and career and it's seen him become a respected gardening presenter. As well as fronting Gardeners' World, he has presented Monty Don's Paradise Gardens, Chelsea Flower Show coverage, Around the World in 80 Gardens and Big Dreams, Small Spaces.

While fronting many TV shows with his adorable dogs, Monty has had to contend with various health conditions.

But what else do we know about his life off TV?

Early life of Monty Don and old career

Monty Don with his OBE in 2018 (Image: Getty)

Monty was born in Iserlohn, West Germany but grew up in Hampshire where he attended several schools.

While he studied English at Magdalene College, he met his future wife Sarah Erskine. Monty felt an "intense attraction" to Sarah from the start and was disappointed to learn she was already married.

Monty and his wife Sarah Erskine ran a fashionable jewellery store, named Monty Don Jewellery, which specialised mostly in costume jewellery. At the height of the brand's popularity, customers would have been able to browse for jewels in high-end stores across the globe, including Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and Liberty, or read about the store in Vogue.

Everything changed after the Wall Street financial crash of 1987, and the entrepreneurial couple lost everything. In their joint 2004 autobiography The Jewel Garden, Monty opened up about their bankruptcy, remarking that they felt "like lambs to the slaughter" when their fortunes changed, left to sell "every stick of furniture" they owned at Leominster Market.

Sarah remembered: "A bad situation got worse every day. The banks wanted their money and started to bounce our cheques whilst simultaneously adding their charges - and interest on them - to the tally.

"Of course, it could not go on. Something had to give. As it turned out, that something proved to be our shop, our business, our savings, our furniture - and our home."

Monty Don started a career in journalism and wrote a gardening column for the Mail on Sunday, landed a book deal and presented a weekly live gardening segment on This Morning.

Monty later presented on Holiday and Tomorrow's World before fronting a series of Channel 4 shows including Real Gardens, Lost Gardens, and Don Roaming.

His blossoming TV career led to him being invited to replace Alan Titchmarsh on BBC's popular Gardeners' World in 2003.

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Monty Don at the 2004 Edinburgh International Book Festival (Image: Getty)

The gardening expert revealed he suffered from "unhealable depression" in his 20s due to the bankruptcy of his jewelry store and financial difficulties.

Monty's depression became so severe that Sarah also became worried about the wellbeing of their children, who had started to ask: "Why is daddy always crying?"

Monty has been open about his mental health and admitted that gardening helps him feel better. The 69-year-old also admitted he struggled with seasonal affective disorder - or SAD - which is a type of depression that generally comes and goes in a seasonal pattern.

Speaking on Kate Thornton's White Wine Question Time podcast, he shared: "I was long ago diagnosed with SAD – there's no question about it, that November and December are always the worst time for me – I can't bear them.

"It's a lot to do with the greyness, the lack of light and the general sense of the world just pressing in on you and no energy."

In 2008, Monty suffered a minor stroke which forced him off Gardener's World for an initial several weeks. After his announcement of his stroke, he took months off work in order to recover.

Recently, Monty was forced to cancel shows due to an unspecified illness. His health took a nasty turn and he was forced to spend three days in hospital.

"I was rushed to A&E. I was kept in at the hospital over Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and had to have drips and all the rest of it," he shared online.

Family emergency with twin sister

Monty's twin sister, Alison, almost died when she was 19. She was involved in a car crash that left her blind and broke her neck.

Monty shared the story of Alison's accident with The Times in September 2020. He explained: "She made what was deemed a miraculous recovery and got the use of one eye back, after endless operations."

He added: "[She also regained the use of] one hand, and could walk with a stick. [She] went on to get married and have children."

Inside Monty Don's marriage and first encounter with wife

Everything changed when Sarah's first husband headed off on a work trip (Image: Getty)

Monty Don married trained jeweller and architect Sarah Erskine in 1983 and they have three children together, Adam, Freya and Tom. The pair first met at Cambridge University while Sarah's first husband was away on his lengthy field trip.

According to Monty, the pair soon found they enjoyed spending time together "in a completely platonic innocent way". The pair's feelings for each other grew stronger over the weeks that followed, however, leaving them facing a dilemma.

During an interview last year on the podcast White Wine Question Time, he confessed the beginning of their love story was obviously "complicated". Monty recalled: "I don't think it was love at first sight. I think it was intense attraction at first sight.

"Her husband was someone that I rode with and knew very well, and that was the case for about six months where I'd meet them socially.

"I remember thinking in a sort of quite banal way, 'How come that she met him before she met me? Why's the person that you feel strongly attracted to with somebody else? Marriage or not'. It never crossed my mind that it could be anything else. It wasn't like I was trying to pinch someone else's wife - there was no question of that."

The couple live together in Longmeadow with their two dogs who sometimes feature on Gardeners’ World - a Golden Retriever called Ned and a Yorkshire terrier called Patti.

Inside Monty Don's stunning home

Queen Camilla with Monty Don at his home (Image: PA)

Monty Don currently lives with his wife Sarah Erskine in the small village of Ivington in Herefordshire, just a five-minute drive from the market town of Leominster.

Monty bought the house in 1991 when the garden was just an abandoned two-acre field filled with grass, nettles and brambles.

When Monty bought the property, it was a “ruin” and had no roof, electricity, running water or toilets. It took him and his wife Sarah 10 years to finish the building work.

Speaking on The Travel Diaries podcast, Monty shared that they bought the property when their costume jewellery business collapsed during the 1987 stock market crash.

He said: "We went and lived in a spare bedroom in my parents-in-law's house with all the children. Then my mother died and left me a little bit of money to put down a deposit on this ruined farmhouse."

"We looked at 62 houses and we couldn't afford anything, so they were all tiny. We thought 'we have three children, we have dogs', so we ended up buying this ruin, which is called Longmeadow."

Now, the property includes an impressive greenhouse where Monty grows crops and flowers, a vegetable patch, The Cottage Garden, The Jewel Garden and The Paradise Garden.

The home itself is Tudor and includes four bedrooms, a sitting room, kitchen and 10 different workrooms and studios. The property also has a wooden summerhouse which includes a table and chairs set and a small heater.

Since 2011, Longmeadow has served as the primary filming location for Gardeners’ World.

Monty is known for his Golden Retrievers, Nellie and Ned, and Yorkshire Terrier, Patti, who often appear with him on Gardeners' World. He also used to appear with Nigel, another loved Golden Retriever.

From puppyhood, Nigel had captured the hearts of viewers. In 2020, sadly, Monty announced that Nigel had passed away just short of his 12th birthday.

Inside Monty Don's life off-screen from financial loss to 'intense' first meeting wife

Inside Monty Don's life off-screen from financial loss to 'intense' first meeting wife

Inside Monty Don's life off-screen from financial loss to 'intense' first meeting wife

Inside Monty Don's life off-screen from financial loss to 'intense' first meeting wife

Inside Monty Don's life off-screen from financial loss to 'intense' first meeting wife