Talking gardens with Rachel de Thame

Ballet, personality-revealing gardens, a list of tulips and gardening in pyjamas

Rachel in her garden in a photo taken by her youngest daughter

Rachel de Thame is a name - and a face - known to all of us. She has appeared on our screens for over a quarter of a century on the iconic British TV programme Gardeners’ World, and she is a familiar face at the Chelsea Flower Show every year, which she loves. She began her life training to be a ballet dancer and was seriously good at it, getting into the Royal Ballet School with her sights set on a life of dance. But she caught glandular fever and was unwell for over a year, eventually forcing her to leave. She was completely devastated, but eventually picked herself back up and carried on.

Me with Rachel and Arit Anderson at the wreath making course I went to at Broadwell Manor

Her stellar career on TV began after spending two years studying and gaining qualifications in Practical Horticulture and Plants & Plantsmanship at the English Gardening School, following a stint in modelling, which she talks about in the interview below. She now lives in a beautiful, rambling house in Gloucestershire with her husband Gerard, an award-winning commercials director and former sculptor, and several of her four children still coming and going. She loves interior design almost as much as gardening, and has spent the last 10 years slowly doing up the house, and is also working on the garden. This year she has started running workshops from her home and I’ve been lucky enough to go on a couple of them. They are the most special days for just a handful of people so they have a very intimate feel, and Rachel brings in other people like her daughter Lauren, a botanical artist, her friend Arit Anderson and gardener and writer Arthur Parkinson, to add their expertise. Gerard, who is a fantastic cook, is in charge of lunch, and everyone sits down to eat the most delicious meal together before resuming the course in the afternoon. It is such a pleasure to spend the day with her and discover that she is every bit as lovely as her on-screen persona. Read my interview with her below.