Former ballet dancer and model, Rachel found her true vocation in gardening. The green-fingered goddess presents Gardeners’ World and coverage of the annual Chelsea flower-fest - for which her own prize-winning design was described by the judges as ‘elegant, feminine and curvaceous’.
Rachel is a regular presenter on Gardener’s World and hosts her own BBC series, Small Town Gardens and Gardening with the Experts. Previously she was gardening consultant for The Vanessa Show and a reporter for Heart of the Country.
Rachel trained as a professional ballet dancer, but a prolonged bout of glandular fever cut her ambitions short. She was spotted by a model agency and enjoyed a highly successful modelling career which led to acting roles in the mini-series Merlin and the British film Bodywork.
Acting wasn’t Rachel’s main ambition. Instead she decided to indulge her true passion and enrolled at the English Gardening School. After graduating with distinction, auditions for Gardener’s World followed, and she found herself, in a roundabout way, back in the world of the media. As well as Gardeners’ World and other shows, she is a regular on the BBC’s coverage of the Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows.
Rachel has written a number of gardening books and regular writes columns for The Sunday Times, the Telegraph, and Gardeners’ World magazine.