Tom Hart Dyke's garden has progressed rapidly from a curiosity to a fully-fledged realistion of one of the most ambitious projects any private garden has undertaken under its own steam in the UK since, probably, the Edwardian era over 100 years ago. The remarkable genesis of the idea happened when Tom Hart Dyke was held captive for 9 months by Colombian bandits when a plant-hunting expedition went badly wrong, through no fault of his own. After his release, the extraordinary difficulties he encountered in building his creation in the walled garden of his family home, and his eventual triumph over them against considerable odds, were charted in a highly successful BBC2 series shown in 2005, avidly watched by lovers of English eccentricity all over the country.

Nearly 9,000 species of plants from all over the world have since been added to the garden which is laid out in an (approximate) map of the world with the plants located in their countries of origin so that the public can see from which parts of the world the plants emanate. No doubt many people will be surprised to discover that their favourite plants actually come from far more exotic locations than they would imagine.

The garden is now well worth visiting, even from distant parts of the UK, such is the extraordinary layout and the boundless enthusiasm of its owner, and it can only get better!