 The Eden Project
This page is about the visit made to the
Eden Project, located near St. Austell in Cornwall, England.
You can click here to see a page with more,
different pictures about the project.
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 After leaving
the car parks, little can be seen of the vast undertaking nearby.
The Visitors' Centre stands as the entrance.
Inside and there are many sculptures (such as the one
opposite) and artwork, drawing upon natural themes and materials.
Indeed a notable feature of the whole endeavour is the accessibility
of rich learning materials, promoting understanding of ecological
themes.
Past the Visitors' Centre, and the scale of the Project's work is
revealed in its amazing glory.
It is so vast as to almost seem unreal.
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 After pausing a
while to savour the view, exploration was in order! |
 As luck would
have it, as we wandered in the Temperate Biome, we happened upon a newly
planted Joshua tree! 
However, try as we might, we didn't manage to find a Rowan tree
(though there may very well be one somewhere!). 
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 The Tropical
Biome was absolutely stunning.
Rich and plush, with an artificially controlled environment, created
via multiple water systems and steam jets littering the dome inside.
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From a
relatively high vantage point, the scale of the landscaping below can be
seen.
Opposite you can see the Giant Water Lilies at the foot of a
waterfall.
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The view from the same vantage point looking the other way is
similarly impressive - both up... |
And down!
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 Here's those
Giant Water Lilies at ground level... |
 There's lots to
see...
In order to deliver a better impression of the various environments
home to this array of plants, some example buildings have been put up.
Some of them are decorative, but some are useful - serving as cool
rest rooms.
After all, it's a big area to walk round, and the Tropical Biome is
deliberately kept at tropical temperatures!
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 When we visited,
the Eden Project had been open for less than three months, so many
plants had yet to bed in properly, or grow very much.
It will be very interesting to see it all in, say, 5-10 years, when plants will have had the opportunity to bed in and hopefully
flourish!
Great attention has clearly been paid to ensuring that the
artificially engineered aspects of this environment will be
complementary in years to come.
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 With so much
known (and yet to discover!) of the natural world, it is interesting to
see and understand the origins of so much we take for granted.
For example, you can see the plant growing, then see the resulting
herbs and spices traded the world over for centuries...
Opposite, Rowan and Joshua are looking at an exhibit about rubber!
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| If you look carefully in the following picture you might see some baby
fruit growing! |
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 It certainly is
a fantastic and impressive project,
and looks beautifully set to grow, mature and prosper well.
You can click here to see a page with more,
different pictures about the project.
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