The Abbey Gardens in Bury St Edmunds has been named as the fourth most-visited free attraction in England - beating out the likes of the Tate Modern and the Science Museum.
The study, conducted by VisitEngland, gathered information from more than 1,000 English attractions to establish the most popular places in the country for 2021.
In the findings, Bury St Edmunds' iconic Abbey Gardens was recorded as having 1,276,864 visitors - up from 1,021,048 in 2020.
The historic site finished in fourth behind Brighton Pier, the Natural History Museum and the British Museum.
Visitors are drawn to the Abbey Gardens thanks to the remaining rubble cores of what was once one of the richest Benedictine monasteries in England.
Two large medieval gatehouses are still standing in the west Suffolk market town as well as two secondary medieval churches that are found within the grounds.
The rest of the top ten was made up of; the Tate Modern, Somerset House, the Science Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Clacton Pier and the National Gallery.
Findings from the survey revealed that visitor attractions in England saw an increase in footfall of 30% in 2021 compared to 2020 as sites began to reopen and build back from the pandemic.
However, visitor numbers across the country were still down 55% from 2019.
The full findings of the VisitEngland study can be found here.
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