Monty Don confessed he was living in a “derelict” house with his wife Sarah back in 1991. The gardening expert purchased a sprawling property in Herefordshire that year, but admitted it was surrounded by “rubble”, with an “awkward” and “utterly impractical” layout. The home also didn’t include a garden – something Monty was determined to build given his TV career.

In his book The Ivington Diaries, Monty, 69, described renovating the property, writing: “In 1991 we bought a derelict house with a two-acre field. There was no garden to speak of, although a pile of building rubble, sheltered by a curving stone wall, had once been a vegetable garden.” He added that the house was “jammed into one corner” of the field, close to the River Arrow and bordered by a series of barn conversions.

The Gardeners' World star confessed: “It was awkward, utterly impractical and, of course, irresistible. The house was very old, with the majority of the extant part 15th and 16th century, and the first year was spent repairing it so that it was habitable.”

Monty helped to clear the garden of scrub and brambles while builders worked on the home’s interior, and only started planting 18 months after buying the property. The move came just after Monty and Sarah’s businesses collapsed, forcing them to sell everything just to bail themselves out of debt.

He confessed the inheritance he received from his late mother was the only thing that allowed them to buy the property at all, explaining that it was “astonishingly cheap”.

Prior to moving in, Monty ran a successful costume jewellery business with Sarah throughout the 1980s –but the stock market crash in 1987 resulted in almost complete bankruptcy for the pair. Monty and Sarah felt like “lambs to the slaughter” when they were forced to sell “every stick of furniture” they owned at Leominster Market.

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."

Thankfully Monty and Sarah have since recovered, and the BBC star is now estimated to have a net worth of around £1million to £3million.