Matt James (born 27 April 1975 in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

) is a British garden designer, horticulturist and university lecturer who rose to fame on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''

The City Gardener ''The City Gardener'' is a gardening television series, produced by Twofour and broadcast on Channel 4 from 2003 to 2005 in the UK and on HGTV in the US. The show is hosted by Matt James, who is billed as "a genuine, 21st-century tree-hugger" ...

''.

Early life and education

James was born 27 April 1975 in

, the older of two sons. He credits his mother with "creating in iman awareness of and love for plants." He attended secondary school in

Sutton, London Sutton is a town in the London Borough of Sutton in South London, England. It is the administrative headquarters of the Outer London borough, on the lower slopes of the North Downs. It is south-southwest of Charing Cross, one of the fourteen ...

and worked at a local

market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to s ...

after leaving school. He received a diploma in plant production and garden centers from Merrist Wood College in 1996, followed by a year at a nursery in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

and a degree in horticulture from

Writtle College Writtle University College was a university college located in Writtle near Chelmsford, Essex. It was founded in 1893 and obtained University College status in May 2016. In July 2023, Writtle University College announced a merger with Anglia ...

Career

James hosted ''

'' on

between 2002 and 2005, followed by an American version called ''Urban Outsiders'' on

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...

. He subsequently hosted

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, trading as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through a join ...

's ''Matt James' Eco Eden'' and was gardening expert on ''Selling Houses''. He also appeared on an episode of '' Great British Garden Revival''in 2014. In 2011, James joined the ''Gardenline'' panel on BBC and guested on ''

Gardeners' Question Time ''Gardeners' Question Time'' is a long running BBC Radio 4 programme in which amateur gardeners can put questions to a panel of experts. History The first programme was broadcast in the North and Northern Ireland Home Service of the BBC at ...

''. James taught horticulture and landscape design courses at

Duchy College The Duchy College Rural Business School was founded in 2006. It is part of the Cornwall College (England), Cornwall College Group, and its main purpose is to provide a range of services that meet the needs of rural communities, including training ...

and

North East Surrey College of Technology The North East Surrey College Of Technology (NESCOT) is a large further education and higher education college in Epsom and Ewell, Surrey, England that began as Ewell Technical College in the 1950s. Facilities Nescot has specialist practical fac ...

, followed by five years at

University College Falmouth Falmouth University is a specialist public university for the creative industries based in Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth and Penryn, Cornwall, Penryn, Cornwall, England. Founded as Falmouth School of Art in 1902, it was later known as Falmouth C ...

starting in 2008. He later created the landscape design programme at the

Eden Project The Eden Project () is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay clay pit, pit.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map 107 – Fowey, Looe & Lostwithiel''. . The complex is dominated by two h ...

, where he taught between 2014 and 2021. Since 2018, James has run a landscape design firm, James+Cook Landscapes, in Cornwall with fellow Eden Project lecturer Polly Cook. He has also written for numerous publications about gardening and garden design including ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', '' The Garden'' and the ''Garden Design Journal''. James was chosen as Londoner-of-the-Year in the Environment and Regeneration category in 2000 after helping establish a

farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

in South London. He has also won two gold awards at the annual California Landscape Contractors' Association Awards.

Personal life

James lives in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

with his wife Ellie and their children.

Publications

* 2003: ''The City Gardener'', , Collins * 2004: ''The City Gardener: Urban Oasis'', , Collins * 2005: ''The City Garden Bible'', , Channel 4 Books;

Transworld Publishers Transworld is a British publishing house in Ealing, London that is a division of Penguin Random House, one of the world's largest mass media groups. It was established in 1950 as the British division of American company Bantam Books. It publi ...

* 2014: ''The Urban Gardener'', ,

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

books;

Mitchell Beazley Mitchell Beazley Publishers Limited is a British book publisher which is particularly specialised in atlases, reference books, natural history books, cook books, garden books and wine books. History The London-based company Mitchell Beazley wa ...

* 2016: ''How to Plant a Garden'', ,

books;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Matt Academics of Falmouth University English landscape and garden designers English television presenters Living people Television personalities from Essex 1975 births Television personalities from Cornwall