Monty Don issues huge career update after fans feared BBC Gardener's World exit

has announced a new move in his career, away from BBC's . The 69-year-old gardening expert has shared that he has a new book soon to hit shelves.

The BBC presenter's new book 'Spanish Gardens' reflects on through Spain, featuring some of the country's most beautiful private and urban gardens, community projects and parks. It is accompanied by photography from Derry Moore.

The career update comes as Monty previously candidly admitted that he "hasn't got endless time left" as he contemplates slowing down with age. The TV star took over as the main presenter of Gardener's World back in 2003, succeeding Alan Titchmarsh.

However, Monty is acutely aware that he has outlived both his parents. He credits his challenging upbringing and tense relationship with his parents as significant influences on his life.

Despite a relatively privileged childhood, he always felt like the family's "black sheep". He was sent to boarding school but was ultimately expelled during his teenage years. Monty believes that his "difficult" start in life could have led him to prison if he had been in a "different environment", reports .

With age catching up, Monty has started pondering his future on Gardeners' World. In a November 2023 interview with The Guardian, he confessed: "I haven't got endless time left.

"If I'm still going strong in 20 years, that will be brilliant, but 20 years ago doesn't seem so long ago."

Monty disclosed plans to exit Gardeners' World "within the next five years" to devote his time and energy to more documentaries, news that will undoubtedly disappoint fans.

Monty purchased his Longmeadow garden in the 1990s, confessing he "couldn't buy a parking space in London" for the price he paid for the Herefordshire plot. To maintain its TV-ready status, he also employs two full-time gardeners.

Monty acquired the property when the garden was merely an abandoned two-acre field overrun with grass, nettles and brambles in 1991. Today, the property features a remarkable greenhouse where the host cultivates crops and flowers, a vegetable patch, The Cottage Garden, The Jewel Garden and The Paradise Garden.

The house, however, was a "ruin" lacking a roof, electricity, running water or toilets. It took Monty and Sarah a decade to finish the construction work.