diff --git a/lib/kubernetes-deploy/options_helper.rb b/lib/kubernetes-deploy/options_helper.rb
index 4b96fd922..5f30e4b57 100644
--- a/lib/kubernetes-deploy/options_helper.rb
+++ b/lib/kubernetes-deploy/options_helper.rb
@@ -38,8 +38,11 @@ def default_template_dir
 
         unless template_dir
           raise OptionsError, "Template directory is unknown. " \
-            "Either specify --template-dir argument or set $ENVIRONMENT to use config/deploy/$ENVIRONMENT " \
-            "as a default path."
+          "Either specify --template-dir argument or set $ENVIRONMENT to use config/deploy/$ENVIRONMENT " \
+          "as a default path."
+        end
+        unless Dir.exist?(template_dir)
+          raise OptionsError, "Template directory #{template_dir} does not exist."
         end
 
         template_dir
diff --git a/lib/kubernetes-deploy/template_sets.rb b/lib/kubernetes-deploy/template_sets.rb
index 1be4bfab4..453705273 100644
--- a/lib/kubernetes-deploy/template_sets.rb
+++ b/lib/kubernetes-deploy/template_sets.rb
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ def validate
            end
           return errors << "Template directory #{@template_dir} does not contain any valid templates"
         end
+
         @files.each do |filename|
           filename = File.join(@template_dir, filename)
           if !File.exist?(filename)
diff --git a/test/unit/kubernetes-deploy/options_helper_test.rb b/test/unit/kubernetes-deploy/options_helper_test.rb
index a067deddf..dbb8baf44 100644
--- a/test/unit/kubernetes-deploy/options_helper_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/kubernetes-deploy/options_helper_test.rb
@@ -13,15 +13,19 @@ def test_with_template_dir
 
   def test_template_dir_with_default_env_var
     with_env("ENVIRONMENT", "test") do
-      KubernetesDeploy::OptionsHelper.with_processed_template_paths([]) do |template_paths|
-        assert_equal(template_paths, [File.join("config", "deploy", "test")])
+      assert_raises_message(KubernetesDeploy::OptionsHelper::OptionsError,
+        "Template directory config/deploy/test does not exist") do
+        KubernetesDeploy::OptionsHelper.with_processed_template_paths([])
       end
     end
   end
 
   def test_missing_template_dir_raises
     with_env("ENVIRONMENT", nil) do
-      assert_raises(KubernetesDeploy::OptionsHelper::OptionsError) do
+      assert_raises_message(KubernetesDeploy::OptionsHelper::OptionsError,
+        "Template directory is unknown. " \
+        "Either specify --template-dir argument or set $ENVIRONMENT to use config/deploy/$ENVIRONMENT " \
+        "as a default path.") do
         KubernetesDeploy::OptionsHelper.with_processed_template_paths([]) do
         end
       end