The Treasure CHEST
If plants could read the textbooks, then Abbotsbury would not – could not – exist. This fabulous subtropical garden, brimming with plants that experts tell us cannot possibly grow outdoors in dank, sunless England, is improbably sited in a wooded dell less than a mile inland from the wild, stony sweep of Chesil Beach on Dorset’s splendid Jurassic Coast.
A belt of holm oaks encircling the garden acts as a giant blanket, according to garden curator Steve Griffith, helping to reduce radiation frost: while it is never especially hot, winter temperatures rarely fall below -3ºC. Then the steep chalk escarpment behind the gardens creates a rain-shadow, providing useful extra hours of sunshine, while the early-morning sea mists
