Monty Don: Gardeners' World host addresses first encounter with wife in rare insight

express.co.uk:

Monty Don, 66, has taken to Twitter to share some personal details about falling in love.The Gardeners' World presenter posted an emotional message about his wife, Sarah Don.Replying to a tweet posted by American author and public speaker Stephanie Land, Monty revealed that it took him “about 5 minutes” to fall in love with his wife.@stepville asked: “Okay married people: how long after meeting your current spouse did you KNOW and why was it less than a week?”Monty took to the micro-blogging site, where replied in view of his 249,0000 followers.He candidly admitted: “About 5 minutes”.Sarah and Monty have been married since 1983.Despite being married for almost 40 years, the horticulturist and his wife have been through difficult times, especially when they were struggling financially.The jewellery company the couple ran together went bankrupt in 1987 and their savings were lost due to the 1990 stock market crash, leaving them relying on dole money.In their inspiring book, The Jewel Garden, Sarah explained: “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.”Sarah added: “When it came down to it, Montagu was a loony and I was ill all the time.“How did we ever believe that we could have saved the situation?“I suppose the lowest point for me what when I was hidden away on my sickbed while potential buyers traipsed around the house.”Speaking to The Times in September 2020, Monty spoke about how the financial struggles also impacted.