Website Design & Build for Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens

www.abbotsburygardens.co.uk

Project Brief

Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens approached Sonder with a clear vision: to modernise their dated website and create a digital presence that reflects just how breathtaking their gardens are. Their existing website felt fragmented and a little overcomplicated, lacking the user-friendliness and cohesive design necessary to showcase such a stunning destination. The new website needed to appeal to a wide and varied audience – families, garden enthusiasts, and tourists alike – while serving as a platform for SEO growth and enhancing their online presence.

Led by Alex and Rob Larcombe, we worked closely with Abbotsbury to consolidate their existing branding into a comprehensive brand guidelines document, giving the identity a centralised and cohesive direction. While the branding itself remained unchanged, the new website brought it all together, ensuring consistency across every page.

The goals for the project were multifaceted: increase ticket sales, drive attention to their Plant Centre and Café, highlight seasonal events and garden features, and significantly improve the overall user experience. This included streamlining the sitemap for easy navigation and integrating third-party booking tools seamlessly into the site.

To complement the new site, Sonder partnered with the brilliant Metrix Productions, led by George, to produce a stunning showcase video complete with b-roll footage. This high-quality content not only enriches the website but is also used across Abbotsbury's wider marketing efforts. In addition, we created a beautifully redesigned visitor map to further enhance the customer experience.

This project was part of a dual initiative with Abbotsbury Swannery, creating a cohesive digital presence across both destinations. Built on the powerful Envelope CMS, the website empowers the Abbotsbury team to easily update content and grow their digital presence over time.

The result is a modern, beautifully designed platform that captures the essence of Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens – a subtropical paradise for all to discover.

" We started to work with Sonder to build two new websites and focus on digital marketing. From excellent and reassuring communications on the projects, to recommendations to try something new, the whole team are knowledgeable, professional and make the whole relationship uncomplicated. A joy to work with, what a fantastic team."

Karen O'Gorman, Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens