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Tom Hart Dyke, 30, was kidnapped six years ago by guerrillas in Central America. He is currently featured with parents Sarah and Guy in the BBC2 series Save Lullingstone Castle as they struggle to keep their ancestral Kent home in the family. Tom is planning to create a garden in the shape of a map of the world to attract tourists.
On 16 March 2000, my sister's birthday, Colombian guerrillas kidnapped me and Paul Winder, a mountaineer, in Panama while we were looking for orchids. For nine months they dragged us all over the place. Once they had a mock execution: they got out their guns and said, "You've got five hours, mate." That was at 12 o'clock. I opened my diary and started drawing my dream garden for Lullingstone. At five o'clock on the dot they came back. I closed my eyes. I opened one eye. I opened the other eye. No guns, just the evening meal: squashed armadillo.
After nine months they said, "Go away, get lost or...