On 21 July, we had our breakfast and ran ourselves ragged (Tiger, not me) so during our lunchtime nap, one of us had a good old sleep whilst the other drove us 132 miles down to the Eden Project near St Austell in Cornwall. Following the UK "lockdown", the Eden Project had only just officially reopened (on 4 July). The adult ticket costs £28.50, Tiger was free as she is under 5, parking is free and you can in theory go as many times in one calendar year with your ticket, although as Cornwall is a fairly long journey for us that seems unlikely.
The Eden Project which opened in the Millennium, fully opening in March 2001, is built on a reclaimed china clay pit with some amazing gardens and two huge domes which emulate a natural "biome"; a Rainforest Dome and a Mediterranean Biome. I have been once before on my own pre-Tiger and loved it. This time we had to book a time slot however and it was so quiet that we were almost on our own - just perfect!
The Rainforest Biome, covers 3.9 acres and measures 55m high, 100m wide, and 200m long. It is used for tropical plants, such as fruiting banana plants, coffee, rubber and giant bamboo, and is kept at a tropical temperature and moisture level. Tiger ran almost the whole way around the domes, having been carried in in the backpack, almost 5km all the way around! She loved the roul-roul partridges (at the moment is is calling all animals "Da-doo" after D'Artie our cat), saw her first (fake!) waterfall, and I was so impressed she walked across the rope bridge with absolutely no hesitation (when she went back to go a second time, even I didn't want to go back!).
The Mediterranean Biome covers 1.6 acres and measures 35m high, 65m wide, and 135m long. It houses familiar warm temperate and arid plants such as olives and grape vines and various sculptures. A definitely prefer the rainforest and we spent most of our time here, but it's super chilled out in the Med so rounded off our visit well. Thank you Eden - we'll be back!
Commenti