Find Harry The Hippo

This has been a strange month. We were shocked when thieves broke our gates and stole a bronze hippo statue. But, we have been touched by the overwhelming support from the police, press and customers. We’ve had messages and even a surprise package from the USA.

Part Of the Furniture

The large hippos statue, weighing almost  three-quarters of a  tonne,  had been a feature in our garden for several years and staff had nicknamed him “Harry” after Prince Harry  made our Kensington Planters famous overnight when he announced his engagement.

“Harry The Hippo” was a feature in the Chilstone Show Garden for many years before it was stolen.

Global Coverage

This story was run in the international press on every major news channel from the BBC to Sky and CNN.  Callers on Heart Radio were even asked to phone in say where the hippos wasn’t in a tongue in cheek feature  to narrow down the search . #FindHarryTheHippo was retweeted many times with many posts about the theft on Twitter. Despite all of this coverage Harry still Hasn’t been found.

News coverage went viral as the world wanted to #FindHarryTheHippo

A Hippo in the Post

To our surprise MyHippo.com sent a huge cuddly hippo all the way from California to cheer us up until Harry is returned. We were really touched and we have donated “Harry the Huggable Hippo” to the children’s ward at Pembury Hospital where he can support young patients and their families.

Chilstone staff thank MyHippo.com for the cuddly hippo all the way from California.

The cuddly hippo in the Chilstone garden.

Other Bronze Thefts

Sadly Harry the Hippo isn’t the only animal cast in bronze to be stolen in the area. A bronze deer was taken late last year from The Horder Centre in Crowbrough and this week a 6′ high African antelope (Kudu) was stolen from a garden in Northiam, East Sussex. If you have any information please contact Kent and Sussex Police.