Inside A Place in the Sun's Laura Hamilton's life from Scottish roots, sad divorce and ongoing health battle

A Place in the Sun star Laura Hamilton has fronted the Channel 4 travel programme for over ten years and is known for her lovely smile and friendly approach to hopefuls looking to start a new life in the sun.

Laura has two children, Rocco and Tahlia with her ex husband Alex and the pair split up back in 2022 after nine years of marriage.

The presenter's Instagram page boasts almost 200k followers and she often gives life updates and shares her day-to-day life which include jet setting all over the world for work, being a mum and her very unusual hobby.

Lets take a look into Laura's life...

Scottish roots

Laura's grandfather was Scottish and she has many happy memories of family time spent in Fort William while she was growing up - but also it was there that she kicked off her career in TV.

Speaking previously to The Daily Record, Laura said: "When I was a kid, my parents and I went up on sleeper train to Fort William to a skiing range. The sleeper train up to Fort William was absolutely beautiful and that was my first skiing experience.

“As kids, we grew up camping and caravanning. I saw a lot of Scotland. It’s beautiful up there. And when I was starting out in my career I worked for a company called Lion TV that is based in Glasgow.

“I filmed a couple of shows for them including one called Beat My Build. I used to work on music concerts and events and also worked on an event in Bothwell Castle.

“I’d love to buy a Scottish castle and renovate it. That’s on my wish list.”

Sad divorce

In January 2022, Laura announced that she and her husband of nine years, Alex were splitting up by sharing a post of a picture of some words by Dr. Seuss: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

Alongside it, she wrote: "This isn't something I ever thought I'd be saying but, after 13 years of being together Alex and I have separated. Our children are and always will be our number one priority and we would respect privacy for our family at this time. Laura."

Later in an interview with HELLO! magazine Laura said it was a mutual agreement.

"It was a decision we both came to. We have an enormous amount of respect for each other, but we are now on different paths. At the point it was announced, we'd already overcome a lot of difficult times. But I am lucky that we have the relationship and respect for each other that we have, and our children's happiness will always be our priority."

Glittering career

Laura turned down a university offer to study law and psychology, choosing instead to dive headfirst into the world of television. She started as a runner for Dermot O’Leary at Channel 4 and quickly climbed the ranks, working on productions like Top of the Pops, The Buckingham Palace Jubilee Celebrations, and Big Brother.

Laura’s first on-screen role was as ‘Melody’ in the popular pre-school show Fun Song Factory. She then became the female face of kids’ TV channel Nickelodeon.

As well as helping couples find their dream home abroad, Laura has also presented various other shows including Channel 5's Cowboy Builders & Bodge Jobs and appeared as a guest location presenter on ITV's This Morning.

She is also a qualified postmistress.

She also previously ran a restaurant and deli Lord Roberts on the Green with her ex-husband Alex but decided to sell up after four years.

In 2022, she told her followers: "Today is a happy and a sad day all rolled in to one…"Today we exchanged contracts on the sale of @lordrobertsonthegreen and the new owner will take over from 20th April 2022.

"Five years ago I decided to embark upon a crazy journey… To rescue the village shop, become the local postmistress, and create a brand and business where we would employ local people and create a local hotspot & an asset in the community."

She continued: "I will be honest, it has had its ups and downs and it hasn’t always been easy… but it’s a business that I have been involved in on EVERY level…

"From the complete renovation at the beginning (watch the full video to see what I mean), to building a hospitality business of which I knew nothing about and then helping the community throughout the pandemic and coming out the other side, it has certainly been eventful.

"But I have LOVED it, and I am incredibly proud of what we achieved as a TEAM."

She added: "I want to thank every single person who has shared my dream and my vision and those who have been part of the journey (some of whom have been there from the very beginning and are still there today - you know who you are).

"When you have a dream and vision go for it and build a team around you who support you and share it.

"Running your own business isn’t always easy but it is one of the most rewarding and exciting things you can do.

"I wish the team and the new owner all the very best and am excited to see how they take the brand and business forward in the future.

"@lordrobertsonthegreen is a complete GEM and it will always hold a special place in my heart."

She has also appeared on Dancing on Ice and The Jump.

Health battle

Laura has spoken candidly about living with the blood disorder ITP (Immune thrombocytopenia) and now she's revealed how it affects her appearance

She captioned a photograph of her legs, which were covered in bruises. Insisting the marks were just a "flare-up", she wrote: "This is ITP! Just a little flare-up this week. But you won't see it under my dress for filming!"

Speaking about the condition, Laura told the Daily Star: "I have something called ITP, Immune thrombocytopenia, which is low platelet count in my blood, its quite an unknown disease. It sort of flares up and down depending on what's going on with my life, and stress often brings it out."

She continued: "It was really mad a year ago I was filming A Place In The Sun with a lovely couple in France - Mark and Janine - and I just stood there and I had an insect bite on my leg and I started scratching it. I was like, 'Oh, I shouldn't have done that because I'm gonna have bruises on my leg from ITP.'"

Unusual hobby

The presenter decided to train to become a pilot and has been documenting her journey on social media. Laura revealed her dad, Ian Hamilton who was in the 70s pop band spin-off of the children’s TV show The Wombles, gave her the idea to become a pilot.

She said: “My dad was a Womble as well as being a pilot.

“He was Uncle Bulgaria in The Wombles and he was in a band called Burlesque who supported Genesis.

“He had a private pilot’s licence when I was growing up and he’s a drummer as well.

“There’s only one other female TV presenter I know of who has her pilot’s licence and that’s Carol Vorderman.

“I’m being taught by a BA pilot out of Redhill, Surrey, which is not too far from where I live. I’ve had a few lessons in a Cessna 152 and I have to rack up 45 hours before I get my private pilot’s license and there’s lots of exams I have to pass.

“I’ve always been interested in learning to fly because my dad has a private pilot’s license he had when I was growing up.

“Running a business, you can never take your foot off the pedal and you’re always having to keep an eye on the spend but this was something that has always been on my bucket list.

Jet setter

Laura's job has taken her all over the world and she has seen some incredible places during her career. Laura has visited She has visited many countries around the world including India, Cuba, Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia, Fiji, Iceland, and parts of America.

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