A Kew Gardens in the Sussex countryside: from the archive, 15 August 1966

When the National Trust offered the lease of Wakehurst Place in Sussex, Kew's director and the Ministry of Agriculture jumped at the chance

"Generally regarded as the largest and best-equipped gardens in the world," says the encyclopedia of Kew. Certainly it is the centre of at least the Commonwealth's entire botanical research.

Encroaching industry and London's smoke (even though those menacing gasworks have now been closed) have made the cultivation of delicate plants and trees increasingly difficult at Kew however, and in 1964, when the National Trust offered the lease of Wakehurst Place in Sussex, Kew's Director, Sir George Taylor, and the Ministry of Agriculture jumped at the chance.