Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don has been married to wife Sarah Erskine since 1983
Abbie Bray Deputy Editor for Screen Time
17:38, 08 Nov 2025
Gardeners’ World host Monty Don has previously revealed the unusual circumstances surrounding the beginning of his relationship with his wife, Sarah Erskine, confessing that he felt some guilt as she was already married when they initially met at Cambridge University.
Monty married Sarah in 1983, and the couple now has three adult children and several grandchildren. He asked for her hand on a secluded Scottish island, and soon after, they formalised their union in London.
“We got married in Finsbury Registry Office and then had this lunch in L’Escargot, and that was it, we never had a honeymoon,” Monty shared during a 2023 appearance on the White Wine Question Time podcast.
He added, “I don’t think it was love at first sight. I think it was an 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 when I’d meet them socially.”
Monty remembered asking himself: “‘Why did she cross paths with him before me? Why is the individual you feel magnetically attracted to with someone else?'”, reports the Express.
Monty Don opened up the guilt he felt when he met his wife Sarah(Image: CHANNEL FOUR)READ MORE: Strictly Come Dancing record breaker has died after living out of spotlightREAD MORE: I’m a Celebrity star poised for ITV return after Strictly kiss scandal
The horticulture presenter emphasised he never set out to steal another man’s spouse – clarifying that wasn’t his perspective on the matter.
Sarah had entered her first marriage at 19, and whilst her botanist husband was abroad on a four-month research expedition, she and Monty formed a connection “in a completely platonic innocent way.”
As their feelings grew stronger, she was confronted with a difficult decision.
The Gardeners’ World presenter revealed: “You know that thing when you’re very attracted to somebody, you don’t go too close to them, or you don’t dare show too much interest or whatever. It turned out that we both felt the same way. But she was married to someone else, and so it was very difficult.”
Sarah made the decision to end her marriage, leading to a “difficult, unhappy, tormented set-up”.
Monty Don and his wife have three children together(Image: Getty)
Monty explained, “She decided that she absolutely didn’t want to sort of have an affair. She chose me, and it was for about six months an extremely difficult, unhappy, tormented setup because he obviously was not very happy with that arrangement. He completely reasonably felt betrayed and very, very, very angry.”
While Monty admits to feeling a “bit guilty” about the situation with another man’s wife, he harbours no regrets about what happened. He said, “The point is I’ve always felt a bit guilty about it, but at the same time, there is a kind of ruthlessness.
“All is fair in love and war. You can’t pussyfoot about. If you decide to be with someone and it means breaking up their marriage, you can’t then say: ‘Oh, I feel really bad about this’.”
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