AN ADVENTURING horticulturalist who was once kidnapped hunting for wild orchids is one of the star speakers at a botanical festival.

The Bountiful Botanics Festival will take place at Wakehurst Place. in Ardingly, home to the largest seed bank in the world.

Talks will take place in the Elizabethan mansion of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, country estate, which is leased by the National Trust.

Plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke, garden doctor Steve Bradley and John Guest – otherwise known as The English Apple Man - will form a panel of guest speakers to talk at the event, which celebrates the coming of autumn and the plants it brings with it.

Mr Dyke is an English horticulturist and plant hunter who like his Edwardian predecessors who helped establish Wakehurst, risked life and limb to acquire a rare species of plant. He was once kidnapped while hunting for rare orchids.

Author Steve Bradley starred in the TV series Garden Doctors and is a resident horticulturist for radio in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex.

John Guest will talk about British apples and how they have changed in the last fifty years.

Visitors are invited to exclusive behind-the-scenes walks and tours around the estate and Millennium seed bank - the largest in the world.

There will also be a chance to take part in Autumn wild food demonstrations in marquees on the croquet lawn and experts will be on hand to give gardening tips and growing advice.

Visitors can learn how to take cuttings, plant bulbs, plan vegetable beds, make compost, prepare seeds, forage for wild food and more.

For children there will be a chance to go tree climbing, pond dipping, as well as take part in bug hunts, storytelling, vegetable art and foraging tours. There will also be a display of vintage machinery and working tractors, and stands from horticultural societies, and specialist nurseries as well as plant and food stalls.

The event will end with a gardeners question and answer session where gardening journalists, guest speakers and Kew and Wakehurst representatives can be quizzed on their knowledge.

Gardens manager Chris Clennett said: "Every season at Wakehurst the gardens display a riot of colour and as summer turns to Autumn the verdant greens of the trees change to a riot of rich reds, yellows and golds, reflected in the lakes and streams. We've launched this new Bountiful Botanics Festival to celebrate all of nature's harvest, from the fields and meadows to hedgerows, woodlands and gardens. We want to share with visitors our passions and know-how of planting, seed collecting, managing plants and foraging to share this wonder and inspire others."