麻豆社

The outlying areas of the garden have remained undisturbed after guidance from Natural England. These continue to support local indigenous plant species. The Experimental station is a private house, although it is within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Unusually on this SSSI, the properties and their gardens are not excluded from the designation. The location is also a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Ramsar site.听
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Due to the openness of the surrounding landscape, the design of the garden consciously attempted to seek some degree of enclosure and intimacy. The only hard landscaping is mainly decking which bleaches in the sun and is sympathetic with the landscape. The garden also incorporates a variety of 鈥淔ound Objects鈥� from the local beach areas, a practice which is common locally.

Protected plants include yellow horn poppies, sea kale, marsh samphire, vipers bugloss & many others. Many of the indigenous plants have specific modifications to survive the harsh shingle landscape. Long tap roots to access water supplies are a common adaptation, and many also have waxy or hairy leaves to minimise water loss.

The property was originally the 鈥淭rinity House Experimental Station鈥�. The original buildings were just wooden sheds designed to test Nautical Equipment, such as Wire Tension, Paint Performance, Signalling, Fog Horns etc. In the 1960鈥檚 however, Trinity House expanded the site and upgraded these to brick buildings.听

The Experimental Station
Dungeness
Romney Mars
Kent
TN29 9NB

Greening Grey Britain is a call to action asking the nation to transform hard, cold grey areas into living planted up beautiful places, to enrich lives and benefit the environment.

Over five million front gardens now have no plants growing in them (that鈥檚 one in three for the UK) and four and a half million front gardens (one in four) are completely paved over.

The RHS believes it is vital to reverse this trend for the nation鈥檚 health, for wildlife, to mitigate against air pollution and heat waves, and to protect the UK鈥檚 homes from flooding.

The RHS also wants the nation to pledge to get Greening Grey Britain and transform front gardens that have been lost, back into areas that can not only be used for parking, but which also make living spaces more welcoming and beneficial.

Ensuring front gardens contain a balance of hard landscaping and plants does the following:

Prevents flooding by soaking up rainfall
Provides homes for wildlife
Absorbs pollutants, improving air quality in built up areas
Keeps us cool in summer, and helps insulate homes in winter
Makes it feel great to come home

(www.rhs.org.uk/science/gardening-in-a-changing-world/greening-grey-britain)