Showjumper, sculptor and delivery driver Ben Lee has made his national television debut starring in the new Wiltshire Farm Foods advert.

Ben, who lives in Taw Hill, Swindon, is one of four drivers to appear in the new advertising campaign and he is enjoying his new-found fame.

Family and friends – as well as customers – have been spotting Ben on the small screen and sending him messages about his acting debut.

The advert shows people getting on with busy, happy lives – while also enjoying meals prepared and delivered by the company. Watch out for Ben arriving with a delivery and chatting with a customer.

“I quite enjoyed it,” Ben said. “We had an email come through saying they were looking for drivers to star in their new adverts, and we had to send a picture. They did four adverts and needed a driver for each one.

“We did a photoshoot in Wales, then did the ads. At first, I thought I had no chance, but I wanted to go for the experience.”

He said the filming took a day, and involved various scenes, such as meeting and greeting a customer at the door, as well as interacting with the customer inside their home.

“It’s a bit surreal. I thought the ads might be on a not very known channel, but now I have customers saying ‘you’ve been on the television.

“As you deliver regularly to the same people, you build up a rapport and become friends, so I think they are quite proud their driver on television,” he said.

Ben, 28, has worked for the company for four years.

“I love it! I’m a delivery driver and work in the office, in marketing,” he said.

He grew up in Nailsworth and moved to Swindon three years ago. As a youngster, he was a keen rider and show jumper, and rode competitively for a few yards. It was through show jumping that he met his wife, Lucie.

When they are not working, Ben and Lucie, who works in finance, are busy taking care of their horses and taking part in show jumping competitions.

But Ben’s ambitions do not stop there – he has an extra career as a sculptor, creating life-size horses and other animals from recycled horse shoes and other scrap metal. And he’s hard at work building a huge helicopter out of scrap metal to adorn the new airbase for Wiltshire Air Ambulance at Outmarsh Farm, Semington.

His artistic career started just two years ago when he decided to make the centre pieces for his wedding by welding old horse shoes together.

“I had lots left over and I’d never welded before,” he said. “I welded three in a line and thought, I could make a horse’s head out of that.”

He advertised the completed piece online, and within an hour had sold it.

“I thought, maybe I could make a few of these,” he said. “I’m all self-taught. After about six months into making things, a had a lady come forward and ask me if I could make a full-size horse.”

As well as horse shoes from his farrier, Ben started visiting scrapyards to find old metal he could incorporate into his designs.

“I have always liked art, and my father used to make clocks from sheets of brass and even made the wooden frames. I used to spend hours in his workshop.”

Ben creates some practical items like boot racks and garden archways made of horse shoes, but he is also working on a commission to create a life size Andalusian stallion, which he began in February. He has made a springer spaniel – out of a spring, a labradoodle dog and a stag.

Ben says he dreams of working full time as a metal sculptor – but following his acting success, he has not ruled out the possibility of further television work either.

“I quite enjoyed it,” he said. “If another offer came up, well, I wouldn’t say no.”

Ben is one of five drivers at Wiltshire Farm Foods Cricklade. The company was founded in 1991 and makes and delivers frozen ready meals. Around 90 per cent of its meals and desserts are made in Trowbridge and it has over 75 local delivery outlets around the UK.

They only use sustainably sourced fish and palm oil, and parent company apetito minimises its impact on the environment in energy use, recycling and by reducing its carbon footprint.

If you want to watch Ben’s television debut, the TV adverts are now live on ITV and Channel 4, and you can see it on the Wiltshire Farm Foods YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/WiltshireFarmFoodsTV.

To learn more about his creative work, visit Ben’s Facebook page, BL Sculptures.