Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens

The Gardens fill the valley that runs from the village down towards Chesil Beach, a mile west of the centre on Buller's Way. They began in 1765 as the first Countess of Ilchester's walled kitchen garden for the house the family had built here. The house burned down in 1913; the garden kept growing. It is now thirty acres, with more than 6,000 species from round the world, and Grade I on the register of historic parks and gardens.

The valley is sheltered enough that plants grow here which have no business surviving in England. The fourth Earl planted the exotics, and the great storm of 1990 flattened rare specimens that have since been replaced. Paths climb from the old walled garden up to a viewpoint that takes in Chesil Beach, Weymouth and Portland one way and West Bay, Charmouth and Lyme Regis the other. There is a café, a plant centre and a shop.

Open every day, 10 to 5, last entry 4. Adults £15, children 5 to 15 £7.50, under 5s free, disabled visitors and carers half price. Historic Houses members get in free, and RHS members free from October to February. Buy a Swannery ticket at the same time and both are 25 per cent off. Dogs on short leads that do not extend. Satnav DT3 4LA, and the Gardens have their own parking.

Come in autumn for the colour and stay for the dark: from late October the Gardens are lit up after dusk for Illuminate, on selected dates through to the end of December, with Santa's grotto in December. In 2012 this was Historic Houses' Garden of the Year, the first subtropical garden to win it.

Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, Prices and opening times, Illuminate and other events