St Austell - Eden Project

 Sunday 23rd June. St Austell for the day 

Decided to go to the Eden Project, we (Yvonne and I) were dropped off by Tony (tour leader) who is also qualified to drive the coach, while Ken (driver) has a rest day.

What an amazing place, have seen it on TV of course, but different in reality, especially as it was once an old china clay pit, so a big scar on the land. A zig zag path takes you down to the pit floor and the biomes, past a little bit of NZ on the way.

There was a couple there puzzling over the tree, so I told them it was a Rimu from New Zealand, they asked me how I knew that - so told them I was from NZ, think they were German or similar, but were really fascinated, looked it up on line when I told them how to spell it.

First it was the Core which is educational about micro organisms, so there is a bit of reading and lots of photos of these different organisms, then there is this amazing ceramic creation, very large that blows out vapour rings, fascinating for kids and adults alike.

We moved through some perennial borders as we made our way towards the entrance to the biomes

Into the Mediterranean Biome, it does remind you a bit of the gardens by the bay in Singapore, but there is definitely a more ecological and sustainability bias here.Straight away you felt that you were breathing a purer air.

Not sure what the white flower is but the yellow bits look they are painted on to the white petal, very pretty. Then there was kangaroo paw alley below, some lovely colours.

Liked the look os this wee hut, it is a copy of a Borie , a shelter used by shepherds in Provence, there is a preserved walled village of 20. Bories in Gordes, France dating from the Bronze Age, and used until the 18th century. I just thought it was cute. There was a cafe there so we sat down for a drink, ended up having a lovely salad made with Eden produce, and a chai latte 

Then it was into the Rainforest Biome. You don’t realise the scale of it when you first enter, but as the domes bits get bigger it becomes quite impressive.

Came across this curious little bird, a Roul roul partridge I think from Asia , spotted them a few times in the enclosure. The pathway had a gradual upward slope as you made your way through the Biome and with that it gradually became warmer and more humid.

This is torch ginger, rather beautiful, as is the sculpture of our friend the orangutan below. There were lots of pretty, flowers and tropical plants, but also food sources like, taro , chillies and rice

As you got to the back of the Biome, there was a treetop walk and a swing bridge which we tried, by now it was getting very humid and steamy, I could understand why there was a cooling room at the bottom of the walk, but a good view from up there. But it was time to make our way out, some beautiful plants, flowers, sculptures and waterfalls along the way.

It was a relief to get outside to cool down a bit, although it was about 20 degrees it was cloudy, and time for a walk around the outdoor gardens, including vegetables. Had a visit from some little robins as we sat quietly on a bench.

A further wander and yet more photos of the surrealistic biomes.You can just see at the front of this biome part of the link building has a green roof (it shows as a wee triangle of mustard colour)

A little surprise in amongst the trees

It is a great place to visit, and would be wonderful for a family as lots of interactive and educational activities, as well as cafes, toilets, and playgrounds, great fun and interest for young and old. 

We had been told that it would be easy to get a taxi back, well it wasn’t partly because it was Sunday, no buses were running either, but in the end we had to wait an hour for a taxi to come, which wasn’t too much of a problem, cafe and pleasant seating area outside.

When we got out of the taxi and walked into the hotel, we both burst out laughing, as the driver was very nice and pleasant, but talked quite quickly, the whole way, it seemed without catching a breath, so much information in such a short time, just another experience of Cornwall.