Personality profile
Around the world with 8,000 plant species
Had it not been for a group of Colombian guerrillas, the name of Tom Hart Dyke might still be little known outside of the picturesque Kent village of Eynsford.
Although the young Tom was already gaining a name for himself in botanical circles, his passionate fascination for plants might have remained embedded in the text of gardening journals and academic texts had it not been for the armed gang who pounced on him deep in the jungles of South America on a fateful day in March 2000. Fateful is a word Tom uses often – and, indeed, has had
a large part to play in mapping out his life, as well as the magnificent World Garden at Lullingstone Castle, the ancestral family home which lies just outside Eynsford. It was during the last dark hours of his captivity –
fearing death the following day – that Tom kept his mind alert by planning the World Garden – a floral tribute to the vast range of plants to be found in far flung corners of the earth. Tom, in common with many youngsters, was first
introduced to gardening by planting a packet of seeds and eagerly watching them grow. It was his grandmother Mary – who passed away four years ago at the ripe old age of 96 – who took him into the castle gardens aged just three and showed him what could develop from a simple pack of carrot seeds. And so – literally – the seeds of Tom’s future were sown. But it wasn’t vegetables – or even plants – that first
commanded his attention. Tom’s father Guy had studied trees many years before so, aged 17, Tom embarked on a one-year forestry course at Sparsholt College, near Winchester. Trees remain close to his heart. He said: “They are the lungs
of the earth. They are some of the tallest, the heaviest and the biggest living organisms on the planet.” Like many students, after graduating, Tom’s thoughts
turned to travel – but not just as a backpacker sampling the sights, sounds and smells of another continent; Tom wanted to combine his trips with research – into the plants and trees of South East Asia.
What began as a three-month expedition, however, turned
into a three-year mission after he received a £500 grant to catalogue the orchids growing off Sumatra. “I felt as if I was making a real contribution to the world, not just enjoying myself backpacking,” he said “and it just fuelled my desire to do and see more. When I received the grant, I felt like I was on a mission!” A second grant followed, encouraging Tom to explore the high altitude eucalyptus trees of Tasmania.
Tom’s grandmother Mary first took him into the castle gardens aged just three and showed him what could develop from a pack of carrot seeds.
Not that he needed much encouragement. “The cheque arrived in the post and I was off,” he
remembers. A chance meeting with mountaineer Paul Winder in Mexico – or was it ‘fate’ again? – took Tom on the next leg of his mission and one which was to prove life-changing. Knowing about Tom’s passion for orchids, Paul suggested a
venture up The Darien Gap, deep in the rain forests of Panama. Explorers have always been drawn to the Darien Gap -
mostly with disastrous results – and the young duo were to be no exception. They had trekked for two weeks and almost reached the
Colombian border when they were ambushed, on March 16, 2000, by armed khaki-clad guerrillas. The pair spent nine months in captivity but, while their
families and friends back home anxiously feared for the worst, not all of the time was spent living in terror.
6 Mid Kent Living
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56