Monty Don has said he may need to find new ways to fund the maintenance of his Longmeadow garden following his exit from BBC's Gardeners' World. The 71-year-old presenter is stepping down from the programme after more than two decades, saying in an Instagram statement earlier this month that now is "the right time for a change".
His departure, 23 years after he took over from Alan Titchmarsh in 2003, has consequences for the garden he has tended since 2011. Speaking at an event at the RHS Malvern show, Monty admitted the BBC had been subsidising the salaries of two gardeners working on the two-acre site.
BBC subsidy to end
Addressing attendees, Monty explained the team had been employed to ensure the garden was "camera ready" even if he was away filming other projects. He said: "The BBC pays a contribution towards their wages. Not enough, but they do pay something, which is great. Obviously that contribution is going to go."
He added: "I will have to think of ways – I can't afford it unless we earn money from it – so I am going to think of ways of earning something from the garden, but I can't do that until the middle of next year at the earliest."
Other BBC projects continue
Monty, who made his exit announcement on September 8, said he was thankful to his soon-to-be former employer for the work done and the work to come. He said: "I look forward to continuing to work with and for the BBC on other projects, as well as following new avenues. And of course, I will still be gardening, dog by side, here at Longmeadow."
These "other projects" show Monty is not entirely ending his relationship with the BBC. The veteran presenter recently featured in another show titled Rhineland Gardens, broadcast earlier this year, and has set his eyes on other places to visit, including South America and Scandinavia.
Speaking on the Good Food podcast, Monty addressed the long days he and the crew face when producing programmes such as Monty Don's British Gardens. He said: "It's harder work doing that than Gardeners' World, for example. Very often leave the hotel early, at six or something like that. Film all day. Travel, as well. Get to our next location if we're lucky about half past six, seven, if we're unlucky, nine."
He added: "Then all the kit has to be unloaded, the batteries charged, I have to do my research for the next day, we have to eat, you get to bed about midnight, up at half past five the next morning, and that's what we do."
No rest days
Monty said: "There are no rest days. A lot of travelling which is tiring in itself. When we filmed British Gardens, which was shot over two years, there were five trips. Each trip, I personally drove 1,000 miles. Huge amounts of travelling around. When we did the Rhineland, one day we filmed in four separate countries on the same day."
Summarising his thoughts on the programmes, Monty said although there was "a lot of preparation" and "an awful lot of filming", they were also a "labour of love".
