Our 2020 West Country break would see us based in Devon initially but on our second day we crossed the border into deepest, darkest Cornwall and headed for the Eden Project. With these being Days of Plague and Despair we needed to book tickets in advance but this was easily enough done, although the requirement to book a time slot for expected arrival days ahead of visiting with no idea whether there would be roadworks or accidents on the road to contend with added some unnecessary stress to the occasion.
The Eden Project opened in early 2001. The location is a former clay pit and if you want to see what it looked like before the tourist attraction was constructed then take a look at the 1981 BBC series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at any scenes on the planet Magrathea. The Eden Project primarily consists of a number of geodesic domes forming two distinct biomes. Around this are winding paths through an attractive landscape filled with gardens and artworks.
In normal times (remember them?) you’d be free to wander the paths at will but with these being times decidedly different all visitors needed to obey a one-way route. Looking at the Eden Project map above, we would enter via the visitor centre at the bottom and head to the left, following the pale cream path as it zig-zagged down the interior of the former pit, then taking a mostly clockwise route around the attraction through the Rainforest Biome, the Mediterranean Biome, then the Invisible Worlds exhibition before returning to where we came in.
Stepping out of the visitor centre our first sight was of the biomes from a viewing platform. A sign asking that people socially-distance and limit themselves to one group at a time on the platform was being followed but there was still some pain from those on the platform ahead of us who stood and gazed for minutes before taking some selfies, blissfully uncaring about the queue of people waiting to take a look for themselves. Naturally, we were onto the platform and snapping shots, glancing around, then back off inside thirty seconds because we’re more considerate.
We started along the Wild Edge trail which wasn’t a single route but one that provided occasional branches to skip a small section of it. For those with certain mobility issues or just in a rush to get to the domes these would shave a couple of minutes off the walk which otherwise provided more lovely views into the hollow in the landscape and was lined with plant-life and the odd structure every now and then: bee hives, Korean totems, viewing spots, unexplained sticks, etc.
Our decision to visit the Eden Project roughly followed this discussion:
Ooh, the Eden Project isn’t too far from Plymouth.
Cool. Let’s go.
As you can see, research was lacking, other than to notice the banner on the attraction’s website which demanded pre-booking. As a result we didn’t really know what we’d find during our trip and hadn’t expected to discover so many pieces of art dotted around. The first of these was one we almost walked past, thinking it was the stripped bark of a birch tree until reading the sign nearby. This is Cores by local artist Jenny Beavan and is actually made from ceramic.
Interesting sights from nature were also present along the gentle, sloping walk towards the biomes as the Eden Project has planted a variety of plants thriving in sheltered conditions and a number of hardy plants from other climates to see how they cope with the generally mild and increasingly warmer environment experienced in the West Country region of England.
A second piece of art sculpture, Industrial Plant by David Kemp, brought a smile to many faces as people passed.
Our day visiting the Eden Project was a warm one so we were glad of any chance for shade. One of the final distractions on the walking route down to the domes was a spot called the Willow Dream Chamber where the trees and arrangement of them formed a cool, almost eerily quiet location. There were markings on the ground to follow a labyrinthine path if you wished and another of the Eden Project’s artworks was present nearby. This was Eve, by siblings Peter and Sue Hill, a living sculpture made from clay, decorated with mirrors, and planted with seeds to grow like some kind of huge Chia Pet.
Our walk brought us to the area on the map marked as the Stage where we took a quick detour to the Link between the two biomes in order to pick up some water (that we’d stupidly forgotten to bring with us) from the dining facilities there. Another sculpture caught our eyes, this being Bombus the Giant Bee by Robert Bradford. Made from steel, plywood, and cedar it’s a piece with obvious connections to the Eden Project as a whole, being nature’s most famous pollinator and set amongst the giant honeycomb-like structures of the domes.
Rehydrated, we completed the final stretch of zig-zagging path – this time heading upwards – towards the first and largest of the biomes.
The Rainforest Biome is the largest of the two biomes in the Eden Project. Like its smaller sibling it consists of four domes merged together with one large, one small, and two medium domes. You don’t notice the different domes once you’re inside, though, and are instead taken aback by the sounds of the rainforest environment and people wandering through within an enclosed space. Covid restrictions were in place, however, so exploring the biomes was strictly done in a one-way, socially-distanced manner and because this was inside – despite entrance doors and some windows in the domes being open – masks were required. We did have some fears ahead of the visit that this might prove to be somewhat of an encumbrance whilst in a simulated tropical environment but both biomes were actually less sweat-inducing than expected. This is not to say that there wasn’t some perspiration, especially when reaching the higher levels of the biome, and for my wife this did cause constant glasses-fogging problems, but we otherwise endured without too much issue. The same can’t be said for some people in attendance who clearly thought that masks were an option. Yes, I know that some people might have invisible reasons for not wearing masks but surely they wouldn’t have them strapped to their chins if that were the case; and just what are the odds that an entire family shouting and not keeping their distance like everyone else should all have super-secret health issues that mean none of them can wear masks but they’re all capable of yelling and laughing while traipsing up slopes and steps in high humidity? Any group of people will contain selfish pricks, of course, but the Eden Project could have done a better job of enforcing their rules here, in my opinion.
Eden Project’s Rainforest Biome actually incorporates four different tropical environments – islands, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and South America – but unless you’re very familiar with the flora of each of those geographic locations you’ll not notice you’re moving from one to the other. Generally, a walk through one of the biomes is a case of following the footprints on the paths and passing by lots of lush greenery.
The Rainforest Biome includes a few pieces of artwork, with the first important one being Aziza Gate by Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. The greenheart wood from which these totems were carved came from Africa and were used in the construction of Falmouth docks before being damaged by fire, and the piece therefore connects colonialism and appropriation and the effects of humans on the environment.
We made our way up to the elevated walkways through the rainforest canopy and stepped across the rope bridge because we could. In the video towards the end of this post you can see footage of the walk over the bridge and get a little feel for how much it bounced and swayed. All good fun.
The upper walkways in the Rainforest Biome bought us up close with two more points of interest. The first of those was the waterfall which is fed by rainwater collected and stored at the Eden Project.
Secondly, was another series of artworks. These were the Vegetalistas Paintings. Peruvian herbalists Don Francisco Montes Shuna and Yolanda Panduro Baneo created these murals to illustrate a mythological interpretation of the medicinal values of some of the plants. This is not to say that these plants necessarily have any healing properties, of course, but the imagery was pleasant to look at and the stories behind the paintings make for interesting reading.
Our one-way walk brought us back down from the canopy of the rainforest and past some colour in the form of attractive flowering plants towards the exit.
Between the two biomes was an enclosed area with some shops, toilets, and seating inside and out for those wishing to eat. It’s possible to bring your own food into the Eden Project and enjoy a picnic in this location although, of course, the facility would much prefer you buy while you’re there and help to support its ongoing costs; just something to bear in mind, though. We made use of the toilets and picked up some more water before continuing through to the second of the biomes.
The Mediterranean Biome has a misleading name as it encompasses the temperate climate associated with the Mediterranean but also includes flora you’d find in California and Australia and South Africa and Chile too. A wine-loving biome, in other words. As you can probably guess, there was a lot less all-encompassing green in this set of domes and the humidity was lower, although there were fewer openings to the exterior and it was smaller so it didn’t actually feel any less warm inside. There was a lot more variety in things to catch the eye, whether naturally-growing like the grasses and flowers or man-made like the tiled paths and walls.
Cacti (or cactuses, depending on whether you’re feeling Latin or English today) have always appealed to me. I think it may be because they seem hardy enough to be able to survive the likelihood of me forgetting to feed them. I don’t actually own a cactus, though, because the guilt associated with succeeding in killing something typically able to survive decades of drought in extreme heat would be too much to bear.
A large, commissioned artwork titled The Rites of Dionysus dominated a mound of earth in the centre of the Mediterranean Biome. Dionysus, represented by the bull, along with his followers, the Maenads, dancing and playing instruments among the grape vines growing are constructed from bronze and were designed by Tim Shaw.
There were also some sculptures of animals made from cork dotted around. These were made by Heather Jansch. Cork is an interesting wood in that the trees don’t die when the bark is cut off so the use of cork fits with the ethos of the Eden Project as a whole in being sustainable.
There was plenty more to see and occupy us for a few more hours if we’d wanted to, or rather if we’d been able to. Sadly, my wife had picked up a new and exciting injury to her leg during the walk through the first of the biomes, and while she was trying to walk it off and soldier on regardless it was becoming clear that it wasn’t getting any better. We decided we’d take a quick – well, gentle and sluggish, more accurately – stroll through the gardens and take a peek at the Core on a general route towards the exit, acutely aware that everywhere from here on was also in a slightly upwards direction. We’re not fans of up when it comes to walking.
The gardens were spectacularly colourful and well-designed, and it was great to be able to take the masks off and enjoy the fresh air of a lovely day in Cornwall.
The Core building – based on the shape of a sunflower – hosts a number of exhibits grouped together under the name Invisible Worlds which you might be able to surmise refers to the microscopic elements of nature and how it all affects the world. With our visit to the Eden Project taking place during the pandemic only a couple of things were accessible and we missed one of those. What we did see, however, was the Infinity Blue sculpture; part art, part science exhibit, built from ceramic, and based on the cyanobacteria, this impressively large and relaxing piece of work breathes out smoke rings, representing the oxygen-generation that triggered huge changes across the planet between two and three billion years ago. The video after the following couple of pictures shows the scale of the artwork and it in action.
And that brought our several hours exploring the Eden Project to an end. All that remained was a sloping, zig-zagging walk up through the exit and back to the car park with more views of the domes and just one mildly unpleasant moment with a spider sculpture emerging from the side of the path.
Even during lockdown there’s plenty to see and do in the Eden Project but the wearing of masks inside the biomes is something to consider. Our tickets do allow us to return for free within a year which admittedly seems unlikely to happen but should we find ourselves there again then we wouldn’t be averse to having a wander through the gardens and biomes once more; just to appreciate the abundance of plantlife without fogging up glasses and needing to not breathe while taking photos, though, this would be something we’d much rather do once restrictions are lifted.