Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don has recalled making a ‘completely reckless’ decision with his wife Sarah when they ran out of money and spent 24 hours without food
Monty Don and his wife Sarah(Image: Jabphotography/REX/Shutterstock)
It may come as something of a surprise to learn that BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don, a seasoned globetrotter by most measures, has little enthusiasm for holidays. The broadcaster, who has fronted a string of well-received garden travel documentaries including Around the World in 80 Gardens and Monty Don’s Paradise Gardens, confided in Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast: “I have never in my life thought about a holiday.”
He continued: “That’s not to say I haven’t taken holidays, but I think if I was left to my own devices, I would never take a holiday.”
His wife Sarah, however, is a vastly different character — a “great traveller,” as Monty describes her — whose adventurous spirit drew him into what he now concedes was a rather “reckless” choice. “When I met her, she had lived in New Guinea and she’d hitchhiked around Europe and, you know, done all that, whereas I’d barely been out of Basingstoke.”
Though Monty had spent a brief spell working in France during his late teens, he reveals that “the first overseas holiday I ever went on, I was 26.”
That occasion was a trip to Venice with Sarah — one that proved both unforgettable and costly.
“We went to Venice for 10 days and blew a huge sum of money,” Monty recalled. “It was absolutely fantastic. I loved it. And I’ve been back many times since.”
The visit took place in 1980, well before credit cards became widely used, meaning Monty and Sarah relied on travellers’ cheques for their everyday expenditure while in Venice. Until the money ran dry.
“We spent all our travellers’ cheques, and we took a lot,” Monty said. “And bear in mind, we had no money.”
He confessed to Fearne that he and Sarah made a “completely reckless” decision: “We decided, okay, we will risk it. Instead of going home when we ran out of money, we mailed for more.”
At the time, Monty had recently received a £500 grant: “Bear in mind,” he noted, “this is 1980, so 500 quid is probably the equivalent of about what, three, four grand, something like that.”
He explained: “I worked out that I could get access that grant from Venice … so we decided to mail our bank and we had to wait 24 hours. So we had no money for 24 hours.
“So we didn’t eat for 24 hours. But we had the hotel. That was OK because we didn’t have to pay for that until the end of the day.”
Monty revealed that he and Sarah became swept up in the city’s enchantment: “It was such a combination of it being the first trip we took together, and we were young and in love – we still are – but it was wonderful, the Biennale was on and so it just felt like the most romantic place in the world.”
Monty revisited Venice for his 2022 BBC programme Monty Don’s Adriatic Gardens. He explained to Fearne that gardens in the distinctive Italian city remain largely unseen by visitors, as they’re typically concealed behind walls.
Throughout the programme, he uncovered a hidden vineyard, a garden established on a disused rubbish dump behind a local church, and a public garden boasting a secret passageway leading directly to the world-famous St Mark’s Square.
