Rachel De Thame is an English gardener and television presenter.
Education
From the age of 10, De Thame studied ballet to a professional standard at the Royal Ballet School, White Lodge, Richmond Park. De Thame contracted glandular fever at age 15, and eventually chose to give up her dream of a dancing career at age 19. She then undertook a part-time evening course in Drama at Southgate College in 1979-1980 and studied History of Art at London"s City Literature, after which she worked for a short period for a well-respected international firm of art dealers in London.
Career
While pregnant with her first baby, de Thame was recruited by a modelling agency and went on to enjoy a successful modelling career. By 1998, she had appeared in the mini-series Merlin and in the British feature film Bodywork. Credited in both productions as "Rachel Colover".
However, as a long-term career, acting was not Rachel’s ideal choice so late in 1998 she enrolled at the English Gardening School, indulging an inherited passion from her father.
After earning a certificate in Practical Horticulture and Plants & Plantsmanship, she immediately auditioned for BBC2’s Gardeners" World. She has also filmed her own series for the British Broadcasting Corporation, Small Town Gardens and Gardening with the Experts.
De Thame has co-presented the British Broadcasting Corporation"s annual coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, Hampton Court Flower Show as part of the Royal Horticultural Society output on British Broadcasting Corporation 2. Other television appearances include Going for a Song and Call My Bluff, both for the British Broadcasting Corporation. In 2008 De Thame designed the 2008 LK Bennett garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.
De Thame has written two gardening books, Small Town Gardens and Rachel de Thame"s Top 100 Star Plants, and co-wrote Gardening with the Experts.
She currently writes a monthly horticultural column for The Sunday Times and has also contributed to the gardening pages of The Daily Telegraph, Gardeners" World Magazine, Woman"s Own Magazine, Eden Magazine. In 2013, she presented two episodes of Great British Garden Revival, and will present two more due for broadcast in early 2015.