The head gardener at one of Oxfordshire's top tourist attractions will be rubbing shoulders with Alan Titchmarsh and other celebrities at this year's Chelsea Flower Show.

Tim Miles headed off to the gala event today as one of the judges picking the top displays of the horticultural world before the gates opened to the public tomorrow.

The writer, broadcaster and member of the Royal Horticultural Society will be bringing his own specialist knowledge, now deployed at the Cotswold Wildlife Park, to what he calls the show "with the most atmosphere, quality and prestige in the world".

He said: "You never know who you might bump into. Last year I was there having a chat with Tim Smit, the man who created the Eden Project, and right behind us was Bob Geldof. VIPs and celebrities seem to be everywhere."

The Chelsea Flower Show runs until Saturday and is usually a sell-out event. Mr Miles is one of the judges in the section devoted to tender ornamental plants.

It fits in nicely with his professional job of bringing a more exotic touch to the west Oxfordshire tourist attraction. He has introduced unusual displays to match the 300 species of exotic animals, including an agave plant that flowers once in 20 years.

His career started in Cornwall where he grew up, becoming curator at Tim Smit's The Lost Gardens of Heligan. He has also worked as head gardener at a therapeutic community for emotionally disturbed teenagers, London Zoo and a country estate in Hampshire.

At the Chelsea show, held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, he will be casting his expert eye over more exotics, some arriving from the Caribbean and South Africa.

But, if you ask him what he is most proud of just now, it's not the garden.

Last weekend his daughter Lydia was in the Carterton Under-13s soccer team which won the Oxford Mail Girls League cup final. He is the manager.