Award for jungle captive's garden

Mr Hart Dyke scribbled the garden design on a scrap of paper

A horticulturist who designed a garden while being held captive in a South American jungle has seen his brainchild scoop a tourism award.

The World Garden of Plants, at Lullingstone Castle, Eynsford, Kent, won the Best UK Tourism Project at a British Guild of Travel Writers' event.

It was dreamt up by Tom Hart Dyke, 29, who was kidnapped by revolutionaries in Colombia in 2000.

The garden has around 10,000 plant species and was opened in March.

The two-acre walled garden, divided into four continents in rectangular beds, began taking shape in 2004.

Many of the plants were personally collected by Mr Hart Dyke during his travels.

Mr Hart Dyke's family are the owners of Lullingstone Castle

The garden aims to show worldwide plant diversity and the efforts made to bring different species to the British Isles from other countries.

Mr Hart Dyke was hunting for wild orchids when he was captured in Colombia.

He and a friend, Paul Winder, were held for nine months and threatened with death by beheading.

The award was presented to Mr Hart Dyke by the British Guild of Travel Writers on Sunday night.

The winning project must be less than two years old and display tourism potential and benefits to the surrounding community and environment.