Botanist thinks the world of his garden

11:32am Tuesday 26th July 2005

A FORMER hostage held captive by Colombian Guerrillas has created a vision of the world in his back garden.

Botanist Tom Hart Dyke, who was kidnapped in 2000 while on an orchid hunt, has now built the display in his garden at Lullingstone Castle.

Mr Dyke invited businesses to celebrate the completion of the first phase of his garden, which includes 3,000 different plants.

The next phase will be completed by next July, which will then include up to 10,000 plant species from banana plants to rare orchids.

BBC cameras have filmed his every move over the past year for their 12-part series entitled Saving Lullingstone.

It is the story of Mr Dyke's project to build the world garden of plants at his ancestral home.

He is the 20th generation of his family to live at Lullingstone Castle.

It was while he was held captive in the jungle that he came up with the idea of creating his world garden.

The 29-year-old said: "The garden is very much a work-in-progress. We wanted guests to celebrate our achievements so far.

"It's a long way from the Colombian jungle where the project was initially conceived.

"To be back here in the garden of England in my own back garden with my family, friends and all my sponsors and supporters is wonderful."