The Eden Project

197Today we headed over to the Eden Project, meeting up with the rest of my family who are on holiday in Dorset. We started by touring around the outdoor exhibits. Undoubtedly Autumn is not the right time of year to visit these as the flowers were mostly past their best and many of the beds had already been cleared. I could have been tempted to try the overhead zip-wire (not sure how this is meant to be educational) although it later turned out this costs an extra £10!

188After quite a nice lunch we entered the Humid Tropics Biome which certainly lived up to its name. As well as pumping in hot air, the hexagonal cells that make up the biomes have two ‘skins’ with an air pocket in between. These can be inflated to a depth of up to 2 metres providing excellent insulation. Unfortunately the humidity meant we were ready to leave as soon as we stepped inside and the few photos I did take as we hurried round are pretty steamy! Next time I’d wear shorts!

The Warm Temperate Biome was much more pleasant even if the horticulture was less impressive. I couldn’t help wondering what the robin, hopping from one bush to another, made of it all! Last stop of the day was ‘The Core’ which contained a collection of pseudo-educational material.

On the whole it was a pleasant enough experience although, for me, the architecture was more impressive than the flora. If you do visit, don’t expect to spend more than half a day here though.

Comments are closed.