The Eden Project

Within only about 15 minutes of our luxury boutique accommodation at https://lowerbarns.co.uk stands what some people refer to as the eighth wonder of the world. Cornwall’s Eden Project is a day out that is guaranteed to suit all different people.

Comparable in size to thirty football pitches and nestled in the ‘Cornish Alps’ of the clay pit country surrounding St. Austell, the Eden Project is an ever evolving living theatre of plants. With its close proximity to the wide and diverse St. Austell Bay, which encompasses marvellous Mevagissey and fantastic Fowey, Eden is a wonderland.

Housing a tropical rainforest, the biggest of the two biomes, or giant conservatories takes visitors on a wonderful journey up through its heady heat to a cascading waterfall. En route, you can stop off and identify tropical plants such as cacao, coffee, bananas and rubber. As such, it is a fantastic education for all; really connecting people with the world around them. With fragrant spice trees, you can get up close and personal with all sorts of foods, picturing them in their natural habitat. This biome is warm, and as you ascend, you will feel the humid kind of heat reminiscent of an actual rainforest.

As you wend your way through the tropical biome, replica mud huts and bamboo shacks have been made to reflect the building styles of places many have only read about. Each plant tells a story and this helps us to understand the extended world, far away. Stop off and try the fruit of the baobab tree and hear about its health properties. Listen to the rainforest sounds of cicadas, tropical birds and you can wistfully close your eyes and drift off.

Introduced fairly recently is the Rainforest Canopy Walkway, which allows the braver to ascend to almost the height James Bond was at in Die Another Day and look down on the activity in the rainforest below. Ferns and tall trees are dwarfed as you look from above.

Throughout the biome are various art projects, which focus on sustainability and recycling, as well as harnessing the creative community of Cornwall.
The second biome is both smaller and cooler and home to the Mediterranean fruits of orange and lemon. Inhale their scent and immediately be transported to a Sicilian stroll, irrespective of time of year. Adorned with olive trees and bright wisteria, this biome is also a place to sit and imagine the shores of the Californian Atlantic. Here, you can see the allotment style gardening of more regular plants, which again lends itself well to educational visits, or just those with a penchant for gardening.

Outdoors at Eden is by no means least of its many assets. Home, always to superb installations, using recycled materials, the fragrant scent of Provence can be smelled with the lavender plantations, bright and relaxing. You’ll see tea plantations, smiling sunflowers, poised to soak up the Cornish sun, and fields of hemp.

Eden are very committed to supporting the very best of local produce, and you can buy a traditional Cornish pasty in their café. The ice cream uses sugar cane that has actually been grown on site, and local producers such as Cornwall’s only bean to bar chocolate maker, Chocolarder sell their wares in Eden’s many stores.

There are often events taking place at Eden, such as ice skating in the winter, summer music sessions in the summer and countless workshops throughout the year.

Dogs are welcome at Eden, and family tickets or purchasing online can significantly reduce entrance fees. Tickets and information can be found on The Eden Project website at https://www.edenproject.com/