An Englishman's Home

Subtitled 'the adventures of an eccentric gardener', this book tells the story of the author's attempts to build a 'World Garden of Plants' at his ancestral home of Lullingston Castle in Kent. Like many families in his situation, the upkeep of the castle and grounds is enormously expensive, and requires visitor attractions in order to sustain it. All the more so, when death duties have seriously depleted the coffers. His travels included being captured by guerrillas in South America on an expedition in search of a rare orchids. The World Garden idea is to lay it out in the shape of a world map which houses plants collected from trips around the globe. The project has been featured on BBC 2, and the book provides a very readable account of the author's adventures - he has gone a long way towards reviving the family fortunes with his visionary idea.