Welcome to Lullingstone Castle & The World Garden of Plants

The cameras have returned to Lullingstone Castle in Kent, to find out whether Tom Hart Dyke's bold and unique 'World Garden', built within the grounds of his ancestral home, manages to save one of England's oldest family-owned estates from financial ruin.

Viewers of the first series, shown on BBC2 last spring, saw Tom and his parents Guy and Sarah Hart Dyke, struggling to keep the roof on their Castle and juggling their meagre finances as they looked for a way to bring visitors back to the Estate - a favourite haunt of Henry VIII and Queen Anne. It was a make or break time as the family pulled together to stop the slide into bankruptcy and avert the end of 600 years of history at Lullingstone.

Tom Hart Dyke, heir to the Castle, is a man with a plan - to build the first ever 'World Garden', a garden laid out in the shape of a map of the world containing plants collected on his plant hunting trips around the globe. Tom first shot to international prominence in 2000 when he was kidnapped on a plant hunting expedition that went disastrously wrong. He was held hostage for nine months by Colombian guerrillas in the Panamanian jungle and threatened regularly with imminent death. During this terrible time Tom dreamt up the idea for his World Garden'.

Two million BBC2 viewers followed the ups and downs of the creation of 'The World Garden' featured in Save Lullingstone Castle. But, viewers were left wondering at the end of episode six whether or not the Hart Dyke's could make Tom's risky plan work. All will be revealed in Return to Lullingstone Castle.

Family favourites:

Veteran gardener Jim Buttress is the garden's new volunteer, and a much-needed foil for Tom's wackiest gardening plans that would otherwise go unchecked. Trevor is still very much a fixture, much to the family's discomfort. Trevor owns the South Wing of the castle, and a crucial part of the World Garden. Will he manage to sell up and reach a deal with the Hart Dykes over the land he owns? Or is an eviction from the garden on the cards? The gatekeeper Reg steps up to the mark with a new - and some would say brutal - solution to the rabbit problem that's wrecking the garden. Reg also goes back to his roots in a special Native American Indian ritual - a first for the estate.

The task is to nurture and protect an ever-growing collection of the rarest and most exotic plants yet seen in the UK. How will they safeguard tender plants native to Mexico, The Canary Islands and Australia against the frosts and the freak storms of 'tropical Kent'?! As the winter sets in the council is threatening to put a spanner in the works for Tom's elaborate winter plans. Could this be the end of the garden?

But the World Garden is not just a collection of plants. It is a business that will make or break Lullingstone Castle. Success in the garden would guarantee the family's survival, but failure could condemn them as the last of the Hart Dykes to live at the castle. It's a tall order, and it looks like things will be busier than ever as we Return to Lullingstone Castle.

Press Contact (Vikki Rimmer)
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