Gardening heroine - Rachel de Thame

The gardener and TV presenter of BBC2’s Gardener’s World is also a familiar face in the coverage of RHS shows – though we won’t have had the chance to see her in action this year after Chelsea Flower Show was sadly cancelled.  Rachel is also a National Garden Scheme Ambassador and has been putting her time to good use launching ‘gardens and health week.’  She had an eclectic career before finding her true passion, horticulture studying for two years at The English Gardening School before landing her dream job as a presenter on Gardener’s Word.  Here are 5 things you may not know about her:

• From the age of 10 Rachel studied ballet to a professional standard at the Royal Ballet School in Richmond but after a prolonged bout of glandular fever as a teenager she had to give up on her dream of dancing as a career when she was 19.
• She studied History of Art at City Lit, an adult education college in London, after which she worked for an international firm of art dealers in London.
• Before going into horticulture she had a successful career as a model including appearing in TV ads – which led to acting roles.
• She’s a mum of four, two children, Lauren and Joe from her first marriage and two daughters Emma and Olivia from her second.  She’s also a granny to her daughter Lauren’s children.