THE EDEN PROJECT
A disused, neglected China Clay quarry! Hardly the setting for a garden to remember, but that's exactly what it is. Not just a garden of course, but a whole experiment in what man can do to help remedy the harm that we have done to the planet.
The photo on the right shows what a China Clay pit looks like in production and everything turns to white from the clay. However, most of these pits are unseen as they are below ground level. The clay extraction ratio used to be about 10-1, that's 9 tons of waste material to one ton of clay recovered. But that was in days gone by! My neighbour John works on the China Clay pits as a driver in one of the giant dumper trucks used to transport the materials. He has put the extraction ratio at about 20-1 now, so that's 19 tons of waste material to 1 ton of clay recovered.
The photo below is of the Wheal Martyn clay works which are still in production and you can get a feel for just how large these pits can be.
The Eden Project pit was 60 metres deep and the size of 35 football pitches and to get it into the shape you see now they moved 1.8 million tons of dirt by mechanical means. It also has a sophisticated drainage system as approx. 20,000 bathtubs of water enter the pit every day!
In addition to all of the ground preparation works, the team had to use over 85,000 tons of compost to cover the pit after the groundwork phase was completed, and all of this was made on-site! The domes are huge with the largest (tropics biome), which can fit eleven double-decker buses on top of each other to the roof of the dome. The scaffolding used to erect this dome was so great, it was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the largest free-standing scaffold ever built using 46,000 steel poles, 25 m across, and 12 levels high.
We first visited in 2001 just after it was completed and opened to the public. There was still much to do on the planting and bed areas with 135,000 plants having to go in as soon as possible and so many areas seemed rather raw and bare compared to the vision you can see today, 20 years later. Even then, back in 2001, the whole concept was exciting and bold and was carried out with such commitment and passion it was bound to succeed, and so it did. One thing to remember about the Eden Project is that it was NOT designed to be an entertainments venue, or some kind of pleasure park, oh no. It was, and is, to be a place of science, of exploration into nature, a vision for the future of the planet and how we interact with it, so do not expect video games, entertainment lounges, thrilling rides, Etc, this is pure gardening at the extreme.
There are two biomes housing different temperatures to exhibit totally different habitats of our planet.
The Warm Temperature Biome: This has the same levels as the Mediterranean, South Africa, or California in the USA. Indeed, the resulting effect of this biome is amazing and you could well believe you were standing in Italy or somewhere similar.
The Humid Tropics Biome: Portraying Oceania, Malaysia, Africa, South America temperates. Hot and humid, tall palms, huge banana plants, and a whole jungle experience that you can enjoy in the safe environment of the biome. Huge waterfalls, walkways in the sky, and meandering paths all add to the feeling that you are deep in the jungle.
The outside gardens are just as wonderful with beds of plants, flowers, vegetables, and crops of all kinds that can be seen lining the beds and terraces throughout the site. there are over 20 acres of gardens outside with over 3,000 plants giving a diverse and almost complete sense of space and tranquility.
There is a permanent 'Invisible Worlds Exhibition' that portrays the hidden worlds that remain unseen by us as they are too small, too quick, Etc, which is great for the visiting school tours for educating the children in these hidden worlds.
It takes approximately 4 hours to get around the site if you wish to take in all of it, but we found that spending time in certain areas and watching the birds, and taking in the ambience was better than trying to rush through in quick time.
Arial view of the Eden Project
Photo Gallery for Eden Project - click on photo to enlarge, use side arrows in photo when hovered to browse
