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Jon Tye when he was flying Vulcan bombers in the RAF during the Cold War in the 1960s

Today Jon Tye spends most of his time tending his family’s stunning four-acre garden at Lea, near Matlock. But 40 years ago, those same hands, which now nurture plants into life, could have been the authors of terrible destruction. For, during the Cold War in the 1960s, Jon was the pilot of a Vulcan bomber, designed to be nuclear-armed and airborne within four minutes in case of a crisis – as Pat Parkin reports.

Strolling around Lea rhodedendron and azalea gardens, near Cromford, few visitors would ever guess that behind the peaceful ambience of this stunning part of the Derbyshire countryside, there lies a derring-do character whose trigger finger could have turned the Cold War between Russia and the West into a world disaster.

Today, Jon Tye, spends his life quietly working in the four-acre garden which has been in his family for almost half a century and attracts countless numbers of visitors to return every spring to see the amazing floral displays.

But, back in the 1960s and 70s, things were very different when he was serving in the RAF as a key member of a Quick Reaction Alert team. Their job was to have a nuclear bomb-carrying Vulcan aircraft airborne in four minutes.

Jon Tye pilots a Vulcan bomber in to land during the 1960s

It was all part of their training in case of a nuclear crisis, which could have spelt the end of the world as we know it.

Looking back, even he questions how he coped with such an incredible possibility.

“It’s a long time ago and certainly a world away from where I am now,” he says.

“I was young and never really thought we would ever go to war . I didn’t think about what it all really meant then. When I did, and push came to shove, I tried to justify it by telling myself that, if I did ever take off with a real bomb on board, there would be nothing here to come back to.

“Only with hindsight does one think how close such terrible things could have been.”

In fact, he never faced that horrendous task because nuclear bombs were never used, nor were they ever loaded onto the planes.

“But we trained, just as though they were, and had to be airborne in four minutes, even when we had been dragged straight from our beds.”

No wonder, these days, when Jon shakes the soil from his wellies and puts his garden tools aside, the occasional talks he gives to local groups are called From Bombs to Barrows.

Jon Tye today with his wife Jenny, and son, Peter, in their beautiful gardens at Lea, near Matlock

More than 30 years after those dark days of the Cold War , the true enormity of it all only came to him when he was chatting to a young Russian woman he met while on holiday in Thailand. She told him where she lived and it was the actual town which had been the intended military target during the RAF briefings for the proposed nuclear bombing raids.

“There was an important railroad there which was why it was chosen. Meeting her made me suddenly realise the true enormity of it all. Of course I didn’t say anything to her, but it was really only then that it hit me. We just didn’t think of it in terms of real people.”

Jon Tye in his RAF days

Even today, with his 70th birthday not too far away, Jon still enjoys high-speed travel and fast-moving machines. He built his own aeroplane, which he flew for several years, and thinks nothing of jumping on his motorcycle, often travelling to Europe to take part in motorcycling competitions, with his wife, Jenny, on the pillion seat.

“I suppose I’ve had quite an exciting life and always been something of a dare devil. I must have inherited it from my mother who, just after the First World War , when only 20 years old, persuaded a pilot, who was offering half-hour flying trips, to take her on a loop-the-loop.

“And those were the days when there were no seat belts or special fasteners. She never lost that joie de vivre and, when she was 95, I took her up in my plane for her last flight so she could repeat the experience. Only this time, I made sure she was firmly strapped in,” laughed Jon.

Born in the village of Lea, Jon – known to his old flying colleagues as Tizo – led a pretty ordinary early life, attending Lea Village School before going on to Ernest Bailey, at Matlock.

His parents, Peter and Nancy Tye, had bought the gardens from the local mill owner, John Marsden-Smedley, in 1959 and, with the help and expertise of Joyce Colyer, who had been his estate manager, began to extend it.

Nancy Tye who bought the gardens in 1959 and turned them into this stunning idyll

The gardens at Lea

Nancy, whose artistic flair led to her regularly arranging the flowers displayed at Chelsea Flower Show for the leading rose grower, Harry Wheatcroft, set about creating their own dream garden.

New alpines were introduced to complement the rhododendron collection and fresh areas were developed with new plants, shrubs and trees.

Soon the Tyes’ hobby became an all-consuming passion and they invited the public in to share what they had created. Many have been coming back ever since.

Meanwhile, like so many young men of his era, Jon had become an apprentice at Rolls-Royce, studying in the evenings at Derby Tech. Apart from being a competition motorcyclist, his life was pretty routine, until one day, in 1962, he was lying on a sofa in his flat in Burton Road, Derby, suffering from a bout of flu.

“I was feeling pretty sorry for myself when I saw an advertisement in a Sunday supplement saying ‘Join the Air Force and see the world’. I thought I am never going to do anything inside this grotty flat, so I decided to apply – and to my total surprise got in. That’s when my life really did change.” 

After extensive training, he went on to fly Vulcan bombers, later becoming an instructor and display pilot, taking the huge aircraft to air shows around the world.

In 1980, his mother, by then a widow, told him that unless he could take over the running of the gardens, she would have to sell up. So he retired from the RAF and he and Jenny started a new challenge, with Nancy still helping in the background.

“The main problem in the beginning was trying to make a living out of my parents’ hobby,” said Jon. “Jenny was, and is, a tremendous cook, so she opened the tea shop while I sold wood to help keep us going. We have extended and introduced new plants and we get visitors returning year after year, often travelling long distances, to see each season’s blooms.

“It may not be quite as exciting as our lives were in the RAF days but we still enjoy every day and feel we are most fortunate to have such a wonderful life. We have miles of paths and 30 seats dotted all over the place, so lots of people just like to come for the views and the peace and quiet they can enjoy here.”

Jon’s mother, Nancy, died last year, aged 103, but he is delighted that, after 50 years, the Tye family connection continues as their two sons, Peter and Jeremy, are now involved in the business.

There is also a new grandson, Jonathon, whom it is hoped will become the fourth generation of Tye family gardeners.

Lea Gardens at Lea, near Matlock, is open to the public until the end of June and then by appointment only. For more details, telephone 01629 534380 or 534260.

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