On a bright, sunny day in Devon at the beginning of this week my son helped me achieve one of my ambitions; visiting the Eden Project.
I remember reading articles and watching television reports about this being built more than 15 years ago and thinking what an amazing project. The whole thing fascinates me; the wildly ambitious concept, stunning architecture, beautiful plants and intriguing art, seeing how everything fits together and supports everything else and above all how something old, ugly and at the end of its life (an old china clay pit) can be transformed into something, exciting, beautiful and useful.
Here are a few of my favourite bits:
There are two biomes, tropical and Mediterranean, I loved them both. The Mediterranean biome was filled with bright colours, light and space. The dry heat in here was relatively comfortable even on such a hot day and I enjoyed following the gently curving and undulating paths, pausing to admire the plants and sculptures and read the fascinating snippets of information accompanying the exhibits.
The tropical biome was rather more of a challenge, I found the humidity and lush growth a bit claustrophobic but loved the treetop walkways. The highest viewing platform was closed due to the very high temperatures on the day we visited, I’m not sure if I would have been brave enough to climb that high though it did look like an amazing vantage point.
The Core building, with it’s stunning ceiling is home to my favourite exhibit … The Plant Engine which demonstrates our ecosystems in a brilliantly innovative way.
The tortured form of the giant WEE man shouts his desperate message soundlessly … a truly moving piece.
And of course there were flowers ….
Simply stunning 🙂
Nature Notes 