Rachel De Thame

Rachel de Thame
De Thame at the 2009 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
Born	(1961-10-13) 13 October 1961 (age 55) Camden, London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Gardener, television presenter
Years active	1988–present
Spouse(s)	Stephen Colover (1986–1993) (divorced) Gerard de Thame (1999 – present)
Children	4

Rachel de Thame (born Rachel Cohen, 13 October 1961 in Camden, London) is an English gardener and television presenter.

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 chose to give up her dream of a dancing career at age 19. She then undertook a course in Drama at Southgate College in 1979–80 and studied History of Art at London's City Lit, after which she worked for a short period for Colnagi, a well-respected international firm of art dealers in London. She then married for the first time.

While pregnant with her first baby, de Thame was recruited by a modelling agency and went on to enjoy a successful modelling career. A major part of de Thame's modelling included appearances in TV ads. Casting agents began to suggest de Thame for acting roles. 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, de Thame decided not to continue pursuing an acting career and in 1998, indulging a passion for plants and gardening inherited from her father, she enrolled for two years at the English Gardening School, studying Practical Horticulture and Plants & Plantsmanship, shortly after de Thame auditioned for BBC2’s Gardeners' World. Initially presenting on the programme every week, following the birth of her second child from her second marriage she now (as of 2014) makes occasional appearances on the programme. She has also filmed her own series' for the BBC, Small Town Gardens and Gardening with the Experts. De Thame also co-presents the BBC's annual coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, Hampton Court Palace Flower Show as part of the Royal Horticultural Society output on BBC Two. Other gardening series include Gardeners' World Top Tips and Great British Garden Revival for the BBC, and Countrywise for ITV1. Non-gardening related television appearances include Going for a Song and Call My Bluff, both for the BBC.