Eden Project

One day we visited the Eden Project, which was our main reason for travelling to Cornwall.

The idea of such a project came from Tim Smit, who was responsible for recovering the Lost Gardens of Heligan, which was quite close to the Eden Project.   It was built in a former china clay pit.  The Project aims to visually tell the story of man's dependence on plants.   

The biodomes, are made of hundreds of hexagonal and pentagonal, inflated, plastic cells supported by steel frames.   One dome emulates a tropical environment, and the other one emulates a mediterranean environment.   The domes are filled with plants collected from all around the world.

It took over two years to build the domes, and they were opened in 2001.   The outside gardens have all been landscaped, and are a feature in themselves.

All ready to go, to discover what lies within those white plastic like mounds.  Slugs?

The first wooden sculpture.    In the shape of a fairground carousel, we thought.

As it was half term, there were activities for children, under the guise of developing survival skills.
Jackson and Isabel throwing the 'crossed sticks', which were two small sticks crossed, and tied together with string.   The aim was to hit the balloons, which represented animals.

The first building we entered was called The Core, which is the latest part to be added to the project.   It was opened in 2005.   It contains classrooms and exhibits and information about the relationship between people and plants.

The photograph below is of a sculpture called 'The Seed'.  It is in fact a very large egg-shaped stone sculpture.   I am not sure what happened when I photographed it.  Squashed it somewhat.  Interesting.

This sculpture below is made up of the electrical waste that is produced by one household.

Although we did not manage to walk around all the outside gardens, those in front of the biodomes were impressive, even in the bareness of winter.

The use of metal and wood in garden was very creative.

Living fences and cubby houses and tunnels.   A perfect playground for children in summer time, when everything is leafy.   Now of course they are just wooden twigs, but the starkness of the outlines was interesting too.

Inside the Mediterranean dome.   Perfectly warm and comfortable.    South of France and Adelaide, South Australia.     We really liked being in here.   Familiar territory.   And the planting of Eucalyptus trees just outside one corner of the dome, added to the realism.

The Var area in Provence.    Cork oaks, and the plants, including lavender, which we see when we walk in the hills around Camping Manjastre.

The Tropical Dome.    This environment really challenged Jackson and Isabel, and they declared that they would not like to live in the tropics.    It was very hot, and very humid.   It reminded us of Malaysia, without the huge spiders and centipedes.  Perhaps they could put some in there, to add to the realism.   There were tropical birds.

A photograph of a traditional Malaysian house, so familiar.   We watched a water filtration demonstration while in there, which was very interesting.    We had previously watched a demonstration, at one of the streams, on how to catch a fish, using a Tshirt.    No doubt very important, if one is caught out in the wilds somewhere.

A tropical scene.

There was a walkway high up in the dome, with amazing views.  But extremely hot.  Some of it was closed due to the high temperatures.

This was a chance for Jackson and Isabel to use a blow pipe.

And finally back to the crossed sticks for another go at hitting the balloons.

Then it was a quick look at the gift shop, plus a look at the very interesting visual display about what would happen to us, if there were no plants.  Jackson and Isabel said that it was a bit 'over the top' and too realistic. No doubt this was the idea of the display.  

Altogether a very interesting day, and well worth the wait to see the project for ourselves.