Abbotsleigh estate is situated in the central province in the district of Nuwara Eliya on latitude 6.9 and longitude 80.6 at the elevation of 1340m from mean sea level. This prime property of Watawala Plantations PLC is approximately 125 kilometres away from Colombo, the Capital of Sri Lanka. The name Abbotsleigh originated from England. The village and civil parish in Somerset, England, about 3 miles west of the center of Bristol, Abbots Leigh was the root cause for naming the estate Abbotsleigh. This estate was originally owned by M/S G. P. Fullers and he had managed the estate since 1899 and right up to 1927.

The tea cultivation at Abbotsleigh estate commenced in the year 1892 and the present Tea factory was built in 1923. Some of the most recent British planters of the estate were Mr. George Bernard Swain, Mr. Francis Augustine Smith, Mr. David Richard Buchanan Thomson and Mr. A. Roy Douglas Trewin. After passing through a few management hands, in 1992 Abbotsleigh estate was vested with Lankem Plantations and in 1996 was taken over by Estate Management Services (PVT) Ltd.