Portsmouth entrepreneur Rachel Lowe meets her real-life 'Guardians of the Heirlooms' at BBC's The Repair Shop
Entrepreneur Rachel Lowe had the chance to brush up on her crafting skills as she took a peak behind the magical scenes of The Repair Shop.
The crew of creative crafters played host at The Weald and Downland Museum north of Chichester to show her around the workshop - and also find time to take a break and play the latest Destination board game based on the hit BBC series.
The game was launched last year and, although Rachel visited the barn during her research for Destination The Repair Shop, her visit was the first time she was able to present the finished article to the cast and production crew. As ‘Guardians of Heirlooms’, players travel in their own Repair Shop Van between different destinations on the board collecting precious heirlooms, such as an antique clock or an old train set, to deliver back to The Repair Shop Barn, gathering Repair Shop Stars as they go - and avoiding costly obstacles.
Rachel said: “It was an absolute pleasure to meet the cast and ‘reveal’ the board game to them. They loved playing it and I am certain fans of the show will love it too.”
Rachel created the Destination Board Games series while working as a taxi driver as she studied at the University of Portsmouth in the early 2000s.
Her initial idea for a board game where taxis would be the playing pieces, and the board would be the city with various destinations earning the player fares, won the university’s Enterprise Challenge competition and she used the prize money to set up her first company, RTL Games Ltd in 2003. She went on to launch Destination London in Hamleys Toy Store in 2004, which went on to become their top-selling product, outselling the likes of Monopoly and Twister.
In 2005, she appeared on the first ever series of BBC’s Dragon’s Den. Although knocked back by the investors she went on to create a further 30 editions of the Destination series and in 2006, was the winner of the NatWest Everywoman Award, which celebrates female entrepreneurial success.
Born in 1977, Rachel attended Corpus Christi and St Edmunds Roman Catholic Schools. She studied Music and Law at South Downs College and went on to complete a Law with Business degree (2:1) at the University of Portsmouth.
Destination The Repair Shop Board Game is suitable for ages 8 years and up and is available from Amazon, priced £24.99 with free shipping.
The game is also complemented by a Destination The Repair Shop 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle.