"The Eden Project" a Cornwall Travel Page by angelis

(sorry about having our backs to you didn't know the pic was being taken) All the pictures here are my own except for the "in progress" picture, which I borrowed from tourist literature. It is included because I wanted to show the scale of the building work.

The mission statement of the Eden Project is to "promote the understanding and responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people and resources, leading to a sustainable future for all."

The Eden Project, one of Britain's Millenium projects, is set in a disused China Clay quarry near St Austell in Cornwall.

About a kilometre long The Eden Project contains two massive multi-domed biospheres and four distinct ecologies.

The area outside the biomes is equally important and contains local Cornish flora and plants from similar climates in parts of Chile, Asia and Australia.
There is also a restaurant, lake and picnic area.

There are some interesting displays for the kids to look at as well as a liitle train that runs around the park area.

The largest biome houses tropical and sub tropical plants and is the most incredible part of the Project. It is big enough to contain a 75 foot waterfall.
Trees and plants from the world's rainforests have grown to massive proportions and the atmosphere is hot and kept humid with the use of fine mist sprays. My son found the heat overwhelming and the mist sprays provided instant relief ( he stuck his head under every one I think!)

For me one of the most fascinating areas of the tropical biome was the section of spice plants as well as a fascinating display and history of the end products that so any of us use for medicinal and culinary purposes.

Connected by a walkway over the restaurant / shop plaza the slightly smaller temperate biome houses plants from the Mediterranean, America and the Southern countries of Africa. In parts it is more arid and definately cooler after the humid tropics.

Instead of the traditional glass used to build greenhouses the biomes are made from ethyl tetra fluoro ethylene foil, which is both light- weight, transparent and strong. ETFE wieghs less than 1% of a piece of glass of the same size, is a great insulator ( ouch, I'll bet those heating bills are pretty big ) and is better able to withstand the weathering effects of the elements, and especially the sun.
The ETFE is made into "pillows" layered with air and can be deflated or inflated according to the outside temperatures; this is done to maintain stable temperatures within the biomes.
The ETFE pillows are welded along the sides, then joined together to form the geodisic domes. All the pillows are flat but when tessellated they create a curved shape. You don't have to know much geometry to appreciate that the biomes are an incredible feat of engineering.

None of the pictures I have taken capture the reality of the biomes. There is a really good website http://.howstuffworks.lycoszone.eden.htm for further info on the project.
For panoramic pictures which give a better sense of scale visit http://www.eden-project.co.uk

All flora was planted at the site in the early stages of growth or as seedlings where possible. Although new plants are being added and the original ones maintained, the plants are left to nature as much as is possible. The idea is to represent as natural environment as possible.
The tropical biome is jungle-like, when we visted the temperate biome was still in the first stages of growth, but I imagine it to be far more interesting now.

Both biomes contained food gardens containing basic crops like corn, potatoes, bamboo, sugar cane...there was even a rice paddy and rubber plants.

An interesting display for adults and kids alike shows a diorama of a modern room and family. The aim of the game is to take away every thing that contains plant fibres and products. An interesting way of showing our reliance on the plant world.