Carol Klein

Carol Klein


Carol Klein was born in Walkden, Lancashire on 24th June 1945.

She got her early love of gardening from her grandfather who had an allotment and from her mother.

Carol has 2 brothers and her father had a TV shop in Walkden.

Early memories include carrying around buckets of mud to bring into the house to make her own kitchen garden.


Her mother encouraged Carol creative indoor gardening but her Father hated gardening but she never let that deter her. 

Her Father loved Motorbikes an interest that Carol also shares to this day.

She attended Bolton School where she enjoyed Art and biology but left at 15. 

She wanted to study Art further but her father did not want her to but she was able to return to her love of art later in her career.


Branching out

Carol Klein's first job after leaving school was at Kendal Milne a department store in Manchester selling buttons and stockings.

Returning to her love of art, Carol trained as an Art teacher and started her teaching career in Shepherds Bush.


She taught Art for 13 years before moving to Devon in 1978 with her husband Neil and where her career in gardening was to begin.


After scraping enough for a mortgage Carol Klein moved to Glebe Cottage, 
in Chittlehamholt near Umberleigh in Devon.

The garden at the cottage needed a lot of work but after gardening on the balcony of their London flat, Carol was keen to start. 

The garden was full of old cars, sheds and concrete! 15 tons of hardcore soon cleared the old paths to plant fruit trees and the start of her organic garden.

Carol Klein has two daughters Annie and Alice. After they were born she gave up teaching and started selling homemade jam, bread and her garden plants at a local market. 

Carol went on to set up the very successful Plant Nursery, Glebe Cottage Plants in Chittlehamholt near Umberleigh on some adjacent rented land next to her cottage. 

Carol has had no formal training and her huge knowledge of plants are self taught.


From little acorns

As the Plant Nursery grew in popularity Carol started to take her plants to the shows.

Carol Klein won 6 Gold Medals at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and became a regular medal winner at gardening shows. 

In 1989, Carol Klein's Glebe Cottage garden featured on Gardeners' World with Geoff Hamilton this was to be the start of Carol Klein highly successful TV career.

In 1998 Carol was a presenter on the popular TV garden makeover show Real Gardens with Monty Don and Ann-Marie Powell. This show was different from the usual format as helped the gardeners through out the season develop their own gardens.

Carol Klein has been a Gardeners World presenter since 2006 and most recently Carol Klein presented Great British Gardens.


When life gives you lemons

In 2011, her plant nursery Glebe Cottage Plants had to sadly close following a dispute with her new neighbours, who did not renew the lease on the land where the nursery was based.

Carol has had 2 hip replacements, not that you would ever know it.


In April 2024 Carol announced on her Instagram she had been diagnosed with cancer and under gone a double Mastectomy and she went on to thank the medical professionals involved in her care and that she hoped to return ASAP.

She has recently stated she is now cancer free and has a new book coming out soon.






2016
RHS Ambassador

Carol Klein TV Programmes

1998 - 2000


Real Gardens


Series 3 ?
I am not sure if this is Series 2 and series 3 from Episode 14? Pete Free 🌻

Episode 1: Stockport, Norfolk & Felixstowe 

Episode 2: Harrow, Norfolk & Devon

Episode 3Stockport, Norfolk & Felixstowe

Episode 4: Harrow, Norfolk & Devon

Episode 5: Stockport, Norfolk & Felixstowe

Episode 6: Harrow, Norfolk & Devon

Episode 7: Guernsey, Felixstowe & Stockport

Episode 8: Devon, Stockport, Guernsey & RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Episode 9: Harrow, Guernsey & Felixstowe

Episode 10: Guernsey, Islington & Devon

Episode 11: Huddersfield, Islington & Chulmleigh 

Episode 12: Devon, Guernsey & Stockport

Episode 13: Huddersfield, Islington, Chulmleigh & RHS Hampton Court Flower Show

Episode 14: Liverpool, Burton-on-Trent, Portsmouth (from previous series)

Episode 15: Cotswolds, Huddersfield & Chumleigh

Episode 16: Guernsey, Cotswolds & Chumleigh

Episode 17: Huddersfield, Cotswolds & Chumleigh

Episode 18: Guernsey, Wiltshire & Cotswolds

Episode 19: Leicestershire, Wiltshire & Cotswolds

Episode 20: Leicestershire, Wiltshire & Cotswolds

Series 2
Series 1


2006 - Present
Gardeners' World - Presenter 

2006
RHS Chelsea Flower show - reporter

2007
Grow Your Own Veg - presenter
6 Episodes

2007
Open Gardens - Presenter
6 Episodes

2011 - 2013
Series 1


2013 - 2015
Great British Garden Revival - Presenter
4 Episodes

2015
Carol Klein's Plant Odysseys - Presenter
4 Episodes

2019
Great British Gardens: Season by Season by Carol Klein - Channel 5 - presenter

2019
The Great Gardening Challenge - Judge


Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5 - Semi final
Episode 6 - The Final

2020
Gardeners' World 2020
Copyright BBC.com



2021
Gardening with Carol Klein


2021
Gardeners' World 2021





2021
Autumn Gardening with Carol Klein
First shown 07/10/2021




2023






2024


Carol Klein Books


2004
Plant Personalities

2007
RHS Grow Your Own Veg

2008
RHS Grow Your Own Veg Journal

2008
Cook Your Own Veg

2009
RHS Grow Your Own Fruit

2010
Grow Your Own Garden: How to propagate All Your Own Plants

2011
Life in a Cottage Garden

2012
Carol Klein's Favourite Plants

2013
Wild Flowers: Nature's Own to Garden Grown

2015
Making a Garden: Successful Gardening by Nature's Rules

2020
RHS Grow Your Own Veg & Fruit Bible


Carol Klein  Instagram  Twitter


Share this post

1 comment:

  1. Carol Klein has to be the best gardener of all time. I could watch her all day.

    ReplyDelete