Jac is a landscape designer with over 15 years experience, a broadcaster and journalist.
Armed with a degree in English literature and a post grad in journalism she started working life as a reporter in the news room for local BBC radio. Fun and lucrative though that was, when a leading London modelling agency approached her to travel to various exotic parts of the world as a fashion model she considered her options for a few seconds and decided to take a few years ‘out’.
Time back home in London was happily devoted to her small back garden and when neighbours started asking her to turn her obvious talents to their plots she realized that the gardening skills learnt at a tender age from her mother were resurfacing. She decided to turn what was becoming a great passion into a career, enrolling in a landscape design course at Capel Manor and, after working with a large London based design company, set up her own business in 1991.
Her portfolio now covers everything form private domestic commissions - including a wild and woolly woodland garden for Nigel Mansel and a streamlined contemporary roof garden for Terence Trent D’Arby - to large civil projects such as the large-scale town centre redevelopment in Telford, public show and trade-fair gardens, an inner city community garden and the creation of the extensive and dramatic formal gardens at Lord Newborough’s estate in Shropshire where she remains the estate’s design consultant and horticulturist.
In 2000 Jac appeared as presenter for Channel Five’s Instant Gardens. This was quickly followed by BBC1’s Garden Invaders as designer and co- presenter and then BBC1’s prime time Garden SOS. Most recently, summer 2005, she has appeared as judge and co-presenter on Channel 4’s live gardening show The Great Garden Challenge.
As well as her television work Jac regularly contributes to BBC radio on all matters horticultural, giving her expert advice during public Q & A sessions and live phone ins. And her journalistic skills have not been ignored either - she continues to write with articles on garden design for the Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph and regular gardening columns for weekly and monthly magazines.
And her opinion is sought by the professional too - Jac is well known within the profession in her role as Landscape Judge for various housing association competitions and the annual What House? awards, the ‘Oscars’ of the building industry, which she has judged for the last five years.
She lives in Bristol with her three gorgeous children.
telephone 07703 172683
