Gardeners' World star Frances Tophill's 9-5 job, Googlebox star link and health battle
Frances Tophill, a cherished presenter on BBC's Gardeners' World since her debut in 2016, has captivated fans with her passion for gardening. Her journey into television began during her university days, despite her lacking prior showbiz experience.
She was selected to join Alan Titchmarsh on ITV's Love Your Garden after responding to a call for interested gardeners, where she swiftly made her mark. Viewers may also recognise her from Grow Your Own At Home With Alan Titchmarsh and Eat, Grow, Love. Beyond her television appearances, Frances has also written five books on gardening, showcasing her green-fingered expertise.
However, when the cameras are off, the star works a typical 9-to-5 job. Delving into her life away from the spotlight, we explore her first home and her connection to former Gogglebox stars.
Frances Tophill's 9 to 5 job
When she's not filming for TV, Frances actually has a full-time 9 to 5 job. She works as head gardener at Devon’s Sharpham Trust Gardens.
In 2023, she hadn't had a single day off, working there five days a week and then filming for Gardeners' World at weekends and during her other 'holidays'. But Frances enjoys keeping busy.
“I have always struggled with just being a TV presenter,” she explained. “I don’t feel it’s authentic and I don’t get to do the thing I love which is working outside and being with people on my own terms without there being a camera in my face.
“I am always keen to make sure I am working for real as well. I have to book holidays when I want to go away for filming. But Gardeners’ World has been very accommodating.”
Frances Tophill's link to Gogglebox stars
Frances landed her first gardening job working for former Gogglebox stars Steph and Dom Parker. She was an apprentice gardener at their Grade 1-listed, St Edwin Lutyens-designed manor house in Kent called Salutation, which was home to award-winning gardens.
Frances explained: "I’d left school without an idea of what to do, got a job in Marks & Spencer. But there was a gardening job going nearer to home – the Salutation Gardens. So, I wandered down to the garden and just asked about it.
"It was Dom and Steph’s garden before they were on Gogglebox. They lived in the house and we gardeners kept to ourselves. The apprentice – my job – did the clearing of the drains, the turning of the compost and made the tea in the mornings for the head gardener.
“It was a classic education in Victorian-style horticulture, which was a good foundation for everything that has come since. I have now rejected that wholeheartedly, since moving to Edinburgh and seeing community gardens where everyone works together. It was a real eye-opener.”
Frances Tophill's health battle
The presenter has dyslexia - a common learning difficulty that mainly causes problems with reading, writing and spelling according to the NHS. But she hasn't let it hold her back in her career, writing five books - including The Modern Gardener and The Container Gardener - and completing her BSc in horticulture with plantsmanship at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 2013.
“My degree course was supportive of me doing the TV work, but they never imagined I would ever have a career in TV and it would never have occurred to me," Frances revealed. "I was really shy as a child. When I was a teenager I used to be in bands with my sisters and found it so nerve-wracking I had to give it up. If you had told me then I was going to be a TV presenter I would have said, ‘no, no, no!’
“I was terrified when I first did it. I am still very shy. I have to channel something to do it; I have to find something internal that says it isn’t really me. I would never have imagined my life as it is now. It’s weird, strange and unexpected but it’s good.”
Frances Tophill's 'very small' first home
Frances had been living between her friend’s spare bedroom and the trusty van she drives to assignments with beloved rescue dog Rua until recently.
She said: “I got into TV presenting at the age of 23 while I was studying for my degree at Edinburgh Botanics. I had no idea what I was doing or where I was living. I moved back home to Deal in Kent for a bit, then I moved to Bristol, then back home again.
“I now have my own place in Devon. It’s my first home. It’s very small but I love it. I haven’t got all my books and my piano there yet. I’m still in the process of moving in."
Frances also revealed how Alan Titchmarsh had been concerned about her plans to buy a home. She revealed: “I called him the other day to tell him about my new home because he was very concerned about me. I’d been trying to buy a house for years, then it was the pandemic, and it was all very competitive.
