Monty Don shares emotional 'retirement' message after announcing Gardeners' World exit

Monty Don shared a moving message about his “retirement” days after announcing he is leaving Gardeners’ World.

Don has now shared a message clarifying what he’ll be up to after leaving Gardeners’ World following the current series.

Filming a video with his Golden Retriever Ned from his home, Longmeadow, in Herefordshire, the BBC star said: “I just wanted to say thank you for all of you who sent me so many messages after last week.”

Monty Don clarified whether he is retiring

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He went on: “They were encouraging, they were moving, they were kind, they were embarrassing. It was fabulous, so thank you very much indeed.

"I'm not retiring. I am leaving Gardeners' World, but I have other projects on the go. Who knows what the future holds, but I will still be working, and still sharing Longmeadow with you here, on Instagram, if nowhere else.

“But, really, the important thing is, thank you so much for all your kindness this last week."

Announcing his exit last week, Don said: "I have decided that the current series of Gardeners’ World is to be my last. I began hosting the programme 23 years ago, first at Berryfields and for the past 16 years here in my own garden, Longmeadow.

"Throughout that time - and around seven hundred programmes - I have had the privilege of sharing my own abiding passion for gardens and gardening with an equally passionate, and often equally knowledgeable audience.

“But now is the right time for a change. I look forward to continuing to work with and for the BBC on other projects, as well as following new avenues. There are more books to write, more programmes to make. And of course, I will still be gardening, dog by side, here at Longmeadow."

He has been recovering after having a “horribly painful” knee replacement last November and previously said he will likely have another operation in late 2027.

Garden designer Frances Tophill has been tipped as a likely replacement

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The BBC presenter admitted in April that he was struggling to film Gardener’s World at his Herefordshire home Longmeadow due to the procedure.

“I was finding by the end of a day’s filming I could barely walk upstairs and I certainly couldn’t take the dogs for a walk,” he told Saga magazine.

“It was severely limiting what I was doing. I did it so I could keep on working because it was getting to the point where filming was cutting round me limping.”

Don went on: “However you do it, a knee replacement is horribly painful. But three months on I’m gardening again and haven’t walked with a stick for a month.

“Sarah [his wife] says I’ve been doing far too much stuff, but it’s fine and going to plan – though it can be inexplicably painful one day and then not at all another. At some point, I’m going to have to do the other one – but only when I can fit it in, probably late 2027.”