Jungle captive's garden to open

Tom Hart Dyke has created the garden in the castle grounds

A garden designed by a man kidnapped by South American revolutionaries opens to the public this weekend.

Tom Hart Dyke, from Lullingstone Castle, near Sevenoaks, scribbled the design on a scrap of paper just hours before he expected to be murdered.

His captors never carried out the threat and Tom was released to see his plan become reality five years later.

The plant expert was in the Colombian jungle looking for orchids when he was kidnapped with his friend Paul Winder.

The friends were held for nine months and threatened with being beheaded five years ago.

Mr Hart Dyke said he coped with the threat of death by designing a garden.

The walled garden, called World of Plants, is divided into four continents, in four rectangular beds.