he former garden area of the monastery is a liminal space – between nature and culture, a palimpsest recording a history of different periods of management and abandonment. The result is an extraordinary level of botanical diversity, illustrating the high value that so-called 'brownfield' sites can have for nature.

With horticulturalist Noel Kingsbury we explore the garden and its plant species: as an ecology, an opportunity to consider more widely the human-impacted ecology of Portugal, and also as a reference model for new, sustainable, bio-diverse and visually exciting urban plantings.