Incredibly, Tom has managed the gardens at Lullingstone by himself, with help from his father and a trusty team of weekend volunteers. But now, he admits it is time to take
“After the first three or four weeks when we were incarcerated in palm houses, I was allowed out on armed orchid patrols. One day, I’d be looking for plants – the next day in fear of my life,” Tom recalls. “To this day, we don’t really know
why we were captured. At one point, they threatened us with death if we didn’t raise £5m. But we didn’t raise it – and they didn’t kill us.
You are free to go. Have a Happy Christmas – but don’t come back here or we will blow your heads off – or less polite words to that effect.’ “Whatever possessed us to go up the Darien Gap was fate at its worst – and a near-fatal decision,” said Tom. “We lost three quarters of a year, through one fateful decision. Even today, there are questions I have not been able to answer.”
“However, there was one day, after about nine months, when we really thought we were going to be shot – December 10 - and that was the day I planned the World Garden. “We had no idea what was going on in the outside world – and we were in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the rain forest, without a hope of ever being found.” Fearing their son had been killed,
Paul’s family had even held a memorial service – and Tom’s was planned for later that month. However, he emerged on December
21, to the delight – and surprise – of everyone concerned, not least Tom himself!
He said: “I really thought they were going to shoot us that day. It was a fear like we had never known before. We really had the sense we were going to die. Instead, our captors turned up and said: ‘Tom, stop talking about orchids.
Mid Kent Living 7
Fourteen years of hard graft – and more, less adventurous, travels later, Tom’s World Garden is almost complete. Fame and notoriety followed; Tom
became a TV celebrity, greatly in demand as a public speaker – and even a motivational speaker. He said: “Without the capture, I
sometimes wonder ‘what if?’ The interest in my talks has been incredible – about our captivity, about the garden, about plants. I’ve even been asked to speak to the British Army – and to bankers! You really couldn’t make it up!”
on some professional help, in order to keep the ‘World’ on top of the world – and looking its best. With more than 8,000 species of
plant, that’s no mean feat. As gardeners can appreciate, leaving a plot unattended for more than few days can be disastrous and – guess what? – Tom wants to do more travelling! His next mission – perhaps in 2015 – will be to Ethiopia where a whole new ‘garden’ of alpines and perennials lies undiscovered, in wait, for the ‘Plant Hunter.’
He said: “The climate there is much
like here, so they should thrive in the UK.” Despite his worldwide adventures,
Tom maintains there is nowhere to match Kent – ‘the Garden of England’ – and, certainly, no place like home. He said: “You cannot beat the drizzle,
the rainbows and the wealth and variety of weather in the UK.” And his advice to parents and
grandparents everywhere? Naturally … “Teach your children to plant things. Whether it is carrots or herbs or flowers. Just don’t send them up the Darien Gap!”
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