Rachel Godding was born in 1971 and was brought up in Norwich where she attended the Hewett School.
Following her ‘A’ levels she gained a place at St Loye’s School of Occupational Therapy in Exeter. At the end of her first year she met her future husband, Roy Read. She qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 1993 and married Roy the same year. Her career started at the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Great Yarmouth during which time she was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Following six months of chemotharapy she was given the all clear. In 1998 their first child, Ellie was born.
Following a change in Roy's career, Rachel worked as a Community Occupational Therapist in Mid-Essex. In 2002, Peter was born and she took a career break to bring up the children. Once they were more independent, she became an Occuptional Therapy Team Leader for Orthopaedics at Colchester General Hospital.
Rachel has always had an interest in gardening and this led to her enrolling in a course introducing students to basic garden design principles. This inspired her to set up her own business maintaining gardens. She has been very fortunate in that she has been able to maintain her career as an Occupational Therapist during the winter months when hospitals are traditionally under more pressure and run her gardening business throughout the rest of the year. To support her new venture, she studied for the RHS certificate in Horticulture. Having passed this with a commendation she spotted the competition to design a garden for the Olympics.