One of England's oldest family estates - less than an hour from Romford - has gardens drawn up by a man who designed them after being kidnapped in Colombia.
Set within "120 acres of beautiful Kent countryside" is Lullingstone Castle & The World Garden.
Located around a 50-minute drive from Romford town centre, the manor is "one of England's oldest family estates", dating back to the time of Domesday, according to its website.
The current heir to the estate is Tom Hart Dyke - the 20th generation of the Hart Dykes to live here.
Tom is the curator of the World Garden and his ideas came in extraordinary fashion.
During a "plant hunting" mission to find orchids in 2000, Tom and his travelling companion, Paul Winder, were taken hostage while trekking through The Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama.
According to the estate's website, at midday on June 16 that year - three months into the kidnap - the duo were told to "prepare to die that night".
Paul spent the afternoon in prayer, but Tom spent what he thought may be his final hours designing his dream garden.
He drew plans in his diary for a 'World Garden' – containing the plants he’d collected from across the globe, planted out in their respective countries of origin.
On December 16, 2000, Tom and Paul were released by their captors and returned home.
Tom said: "To help me endure my nine months in captivity I began sketching out a map of ideas.
"On my release I returned to my family home - Lullingstone Castle in Kent - and started working within the two-acre Victorian walled garden to transform it into the first World Garden of Plants."
The World Garden opened in 2005 and showcases around 7,000 plant species, varieties, cultivars, and hybrids laid out interactively as a "mini map of the world".
Tom described it as "countries and continents in their actual miniature shapes with specimens phytogeographically planted".
He added: "The grounds consist of three acres of formal gardens, 20 acres of arboretum including a woodland walk, river, and lake.
"2026 is the 21st year of opening the garden, we love to welcome visitors from the UK and all around the world during April to October."
The gardens are open on Thursday to Sunday between 11am and 5pm whilst the manor house is open only during events days and bank holiday weekends.
The manor house and gatehouse themselves, built in 1497, hold significant historical stories of their own.
Both Henry VIII and Queen Anne are known to have been regular visitors, according to the estate's website.
The grounds were home to a silk farm, established in the 1930s, which produced silk for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation robes and wedding dress.
Lullingstone was also taken over by the British Army during the Second World War and the fields behind the gatehouse hosted a "dummy airfield".
Hidden in the grounds, alongside the River Darent, visitors will also find Queen Anne's Bathhouse and an 18th century ice house.
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