Dr Alley Marie Jordan has a PhD in Classics from the University of Edinburgh and is a garden historian living in Edinburgh, where she teaches and publishes on garden history. She also gives garden tours in such places as Versailles and Edinburgh. Her research specialises in classicism in 18th century gardens. Her first book, Classical Taste in the Architectural World of Thomas Jefferson (2025) is published by Bloomsbury. She is currently working on a second book on Marie Antoinette's influence on the gardens at Versailles.
Dr Jordan is originally from the United States, where she grew up amongst the vineyards and orchards of Northern California.