Lullingstone Castle and the World Garden by Tom Hart Dyke

Tom Hart Dyke (photo), gave a superb talk at Local Studies on 6 October on Lullingstone Castle in Eynsford, Kent and the World Garden of plants. He is an extremely passionate and enthusiastic gardener/horticulturist, plant hunter and author. Lullingstone is his family seat and he proudly described its history and changes made from the original Tudor property of the 1490s through various Georgian and Victorian additions to the present day. Set in the beautiful Darent Valley, Lullingstone nestles in the country but is accessible for London. It has had many great and good visitors like Henry VIII who broke a rib at the Tilt field, Queen Anne, Capability Brown, and more recently King Charles as Prince of Wales. It combines a fine vaulted ceiling dating back to 1604, a roman road running underneath part of the estate, buildings from different ages, a rebuilt 1950s impressive gate house and a beautiful park and gardens.

He inherited his grandmother's love of gardens and plants and he talked about the silk farm and the caterpillars producing beautiful silk pieces which she started in 1931 including a dress for Royalty. Many school children have visited the Farm over the years. He was and is particularly inspired by orchids and following the Victorian plant hunters he set about travelling extensively e.g. Tasmania, South East Asia, South America to find orchids and many more plants and seeds, sending samples home for the estate. While on his journey he was kidnapped in Columbia where local wars were raging in the year 2000 and was held in captivity for 10 months or so by a gang. It was unbelievably frightening and all their plant collection items were destroyed. He was sustained by the thought of designing a World Garden and happily he lived to make it happen. His World Garden Of Plants showing species from all the different continents was opened in 2005 with 21 plants and has grown impressively over the years with 5000 items now. Much of the collection has been donated and the garden relies on a team of volunteers to deliver it. It is well worth a visit. Tom had copies of his books and brochures about Lullingstone with him and was generous with his time in answering our questions. Thank you very much Tom.

Contributed by Angela Dowling