Sophie Thomson grows anew as guardian of Shingleback Farm

Popular South Australian TV presenter Sophie Thomson has entered a new season of her life.

She’s converting and rewilding Shingleback Farm – a run-down property on the drought-damaged plains of Sedan – into a beautiful family home and garden.

Not only is she excited about the challenge, she’s excited about the unexpected lessons nature continues to reveal to her.

If there’s such a thing as green genes, gardening consultant, speaker, author and media presenter Sophie Thomson has them in spades – or is it shovels?

Both of her parents were dedicated planties, running a renowned plant nursery, David Thomson’s Nursery, in the Adelaide Hills’ Piccadilly Valley.

Although Sophie grew up exposed to the nursery environment, upon leaving school, she studied in Melbourne to be a naturopath.

But after her father died, she returned to Piccadilly to help her mum run the family nursery for three months.

“In those three months, I actually discovered I love plants, and that’s where I was meant to be,” Sophie says.

She and her mum ended up running the nursery together for seven years.

Bit by bit, Sophie joined the horticultural media.

She started writing for the local paper, The Weekend Herald, and doing guest appearances with Michael Keelan on radio station 5AA.

She had a gardening segment on the daytime TV program AM Adelaide for around five years.

She also successfully auditioned to be the South Australian presenter on Gardening Australia, a role she continues to hold 21 years later.

Over this time, Sophie raised five children, gave cooking and gardening classes and created magnificent gardens.

One of her conversions was a property with a sandstone chapel at Ashton.

“Even though most people remember the garden in Mount Barker,” she says, “the one in Ashton was spectacular ... That was cover-story country style.”

But rather than restricting herself to Adelaide Hills gardens, Sophie finds that different regions have pluses and minuses, and Sedan has plenty of appeal.

“The Mid Murray is a fascinating area,” she says.

“When I came here, I met a guy from Lancashire, and he said, ‘Sophie, for nine months of the year, the weather is perfect; for three months it’s hell.’

“It is brutal in summer.”

Sedan recently reached 47 degrees.

“But in Crafers, where I was renting, winter was hell, with black mould in every room inside,” she says.

“It was cold; it was wet; you never saw the sunshine.

“We need a bit of sunshine to feel better and stop depression and all sorts of things like that.”

Sophie’s marriage ended before she bought her new patch, but she’s so enthusiastic about her fresh start in Sedan that she’s already planted thousands of shoots on her property.

She’s also currently making a documentary about transforming Shingleback Farm, with the working title of Sophie Thomson’s Shingleback Farm.

Sophie wants to use the documentary to educate people about gardening in tough conditions.

“Seventy per cent of Australia is arid or semi-arid, and no-one’s really showing us how you garden there,” she says.

“There are all sorts of things we’re trying to do here, like promote a little regional town.

“People feel like, ‘Why?’

“I think: well, every night I get to watch the sunset over the eastern side of the Mount Lofty Ranges, and my heart is free.”

Read more of Sophie Thomson’s story in the autumn 2026 edition of Murraylands Life magazine.

Where to get your copy of Murraylands Life magazine

The autumn 2026 edition of Murraylands Life magazine should be available at more than 110 newsagents, supermarkets, hotels, service stations, accommodation providers and other outlets around the region from this Friday, March 13.

Production delays have been minimal despite flood damage at Print City, the Murray Bridge business where the magazine is printed.

Click here to find out where you can pick up your free copy at Callington, Coonalpyn, Karoonda, Lameroo, Mannum, Monarto, Murray Bridge, Mypolonga, Pinnaroo, Tailem Bend or Wellington.

Copies may take a few extra days to reach some locations.

If you can’t find a copy at your local pick-up point, let us know by emailing jane@murraybridge.news – we’ll circle back to top up supplies as required.

Alternatively, subscribe to Murraylands Life magazine at murraybridgenews.square.site and we’ll post our next four editions direct to you for the cost of postage and handling.

Advertising space is now available in the winter edition, due for publication in June.

• More information: Visit www.murraylands.life or email jane@murraybridge.news.