Rachel De Thame (born Rachel Cohen, London, UK, October 1961) is a British TV presenter, specialising in gardening programmes.
From aged 10, De Thame studied ballet to a professional standard at the Royal Ballet School, White Lodge, Richmond Park.[1] De Thane contracted glandular fever at age 15, and eventually chose to give up her dream of a dancing career at aged 19. She undertook a part time evening course in Drama at Southgate Technical College in 1979/1980, after which she married for the first time.
After her divorce, De Thane studied History of Art at London's City Lit and spent a short period working as a receptionist for a well-respected international firm of art dealers in London.[2] However, she was soon spotted by a modelling agency and went on to enjoy a successful modelling career. A major part of Rachel's modelling included appearances in TV ads - where she met her second husband - and casting agents soon began to suggest De Thane for acting roles. By 1988, 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. Graduating with a distinction in Practical Horticulture and Plants & Plantsmanship, she immediately auditioned for BBC2’s Gardeners' World. A weekly presenter, after the birth of her second child in her second marriage she now makes occasional appearances, and filmed her own series for the BBC, Small Town Gardens. De Thane has presented the BBC's coverage of Hampton Court and the Chelsea Flower Show as part of the Royal Horticultural Society output on BBC 2. In 2008 De Thane designed the 2008 LK Bennett garden at Chelsea.[3]
De Thane writes a bi-monthly horticultural article for the Saturday Telegraph magazine, Amateur Gardening and Woman’s Own.
Rachel married her first husband, Stephen Colover, in June 1986. They had two children, Lauren and Joe, and divorced around 1993.
Rachel is currently married to her second husband, Gerard De Thame, and the couple have two children. They live in Chelsea, West London and have a cottage in the Cotswolds, west Oxfordshire.[4]