The Eden Project Pt 1 - What exactly is it?
It’s a simple question with a not so simple answer, so the best thing to do is quote the official guidebook. It describes itself as “An educational charity that creates gardens, exhibitions, art, events, experiences and projects that explore how people can work together and with nature to change things for the better”.
To put it even more simply the concept is about trying to educate people to use our planet in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way – so how did this project materialise?
The answer to this question is somewhat easier. Although other people were involved, the whole idea was the vision of one man – Tim Smit, or Sir Tim Smit, as he is now officially known. This remarkable man gained notoriety after helping to bring the nearby ‘Lost Gardens of Heligan’ back to life in the 1990s.
At Eden his idea was for a millennium project to turn a disused former clay pit at Bodelva into something that nobody had ever seen before. This 60m deep sided clay pit with no soil and 15 m below the water table was to be transformed into life by creating giant conservatories, or biomes as they are now called, full of exotic plants planted in 83,000 tons of soil made from re-cycled waste and watered by natural rainfall.
There are two greenhouse type Biomes – Rainforest and Mediterranean – and the outdoor planting areas are called the Outdoor Biome. There is also a pavilion called ‘The Core’ which is an education, arts and events hub, and to complete the experience there is a stage which hosts different events throughout the year.
To watch all the pieces coming together a visitor centre was opened in 2000 and the whole site was officially opened on 17th March 2001.
The picture carousel below shows a sequence of the Rainforest Biome, the Mediterranean Biome and the Core.
The work here is constantly ongoing and the more times you visit, the more you will be amazed at the work that’s being carried out. It can be a very thought-provoking experience if you allow it to be, but it doesn’t come cheaply. There are ways of keeping the costs down, but it always helps to know that what you spend here is going to a fantastic project.
To find out all the practical details before you come here it’s best to check out all the latest details from the website, and you can even download an app that you can use when visiting.
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Originally posted 2018-12-01 15:11:05.
Nice introduction which I should have read first. You were asking re the project up here and this is the latest, the funding was approved. (Of course there’s the usual complaints…….) But I see the old gasometer is to be part, I think they have taken the bits that they don’t want off. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crggpy12er9o
Thanks for that Shey. I didn’t see Tim Smit’s name anywhere, so I’m not sure if he’s involved or not, but I read some of the comments. You can please some of the people some of the time…..
Dundee is like that. From they should never have shut the mills ranters…. to that office block opposite the V and A should be knocked down and the town centre is all boarded shops..which is is not, anyway what do you expect with a large enclsoed state of the art shopping centre. . Yes there’s poverty here and deprivation and some high street blight…same as every other town in the country. But it really does its best . Here we are now with the only other V &A outside London AND the Eden project. ..but these only provide hospitality jobs. Well at least they provide jobs. Also that whole waterfront has been/is being trasformed. Heavens I’ve awriter pal coming up for a few days to Scotland. They want to see abit of highland scenery but not avhe to go too far norht and I recommended the Dunkeld/Pitlochry/Blair Atholl area to them. But they are staying the 3 days here ina hotel on teh waterfront so they can access various places in that other area but also be in this bonnie setting adnwe will be able to meet up with her and her man.
It’s easy to be negative about things, but some people try their hardest to turn things around, and some have succeeded. I don’t know how the Eden Project is going to turn out up there, but I’m confident that it will be a success. Now you’ve got me thinking about writing posts on the Pitlochry area.
well now… we used to a lot hillwalking at Blair Atholl, but we’ve done Vrackie at the back of Pitlochry too. Got a nice pint in the Moulin after and then the train back to Blair Atholl.
We would take a deal in the hotel there, a 5 for 3 nights but like everthing else places change and that hotel went a bit down.
We stayed at Killiecrankie but without checking I can’t remember how many nights we were there now. Best part of a week I think.
There’s a hotel there…I seem to remember us having a pint in with the drama lot when we were up there. (Where did we not have a drink in mind) You would be well able to get about from there.
And we did. The Killiecrankie Hotel would normally have been out of our price range but I managed to squeeze a deal out of them
Yeah…a lot of these places are but they do deals or used to every so often. I think I was there witha few folks who came up toa talk being given as part of the Tercentenary celebrations. Cos looking back on that show I know we drank in Pitlochry and Blair Atholl.
We got flung out of these places too……
Why am I not surprised? 😀
I am sure I don’t know. It was bags and baggage out of the Atholl Arms Hotel too. . . .There was obviously some reason they just didn’t like us…
LOL
Would you be surprised to learn that I had a nice pint in the Moulin too?
Abso… Seriously no. It is a nice olde pub. The kind of place to have a pint in.
Malc, I am not sure what is going on with your notifications – this one and part 5 I was notified about via email only , part 3 has only appeared on my WordPress Reader while I have received no notifications at all on parts 2 and 4 …. Strange world we are living in!
Thanks for the heads up Albert. I’m baffled as to why that should be
One place that’s definitely on my ‘must visit one day’ list!
It’s very different to Kew Gardens!
I remember reading about this project a number of years ago. Glad to learn it is still going strong.
It is Don, but like everything these days, it’s an uphill financial struggle, but places like this deserve to survive.