The Abbey Garden, Tresco

The Abbey garden on Tresco is an anomaly; a real example of nature tamed and what can be achieved by sheer determination and vision. In 1834 Augustus Smith moved to Tresco in the Isles of Scilly, surveyed the barren treeless landscape, suffered the Atlantic gales and sea spray and decided what he really wanted was a nice garden.

In the ruins of the 12th century St Nicolas Priory, Smith placed his first plantings. As the garden expanded he cleverly built up a shelter belt using trees such as the Monterey Pine to offer the protection necessary for its survival. Successive generations of Smith’s family have added to the garden which now covers 17 acres. In fact it will soon be the 100th anniversary of Major Arthur Dorian–Smith’s adventurous plant hunting expedition to the Chatham Islands and New Zealand. The force of nature is, however, a reoccurring theme in the garden’s history - as in 1987 when a foot of snow covered it resulting in a loss of 70 % of its plants and shrubs.

Despite these dramas, the predominantly mild climate on Tresco is superbly beneficial – allowing properly sheltered exotic and temperate plants to flourish. The garden has 20,000 of them in fact, from locations as far flung as South America, Australasia and South Africa. With the weather conditions allowing the growth of plants all year round, The Abbey at Tresco always has something colourful, unusual, and often rather bizarre to see; it offers an experience unlike any you’ll find in another British garden.

The Abbey Garden, Tresco, Isles of Scilly, Cornwall. TR24 0QQ

Opening Times:
The Garden is open every day of the year to visitors.