The Eden Project, St Austell. Cornwall

The Eden Project is a remarkable scientific project and tourist attraction near St Austell in Cornwall, England. It opened in 2001 with the intention of demonstrating how plants and human development can interact for the benefit of both. It aims to reconnect people with their environment and encourage them to take a fresh view of the natural world and their place in it.

The Project is itself an example of how an environment can be reconstructed, in that it occupies a site in a former china clay pit. The huge hole in the ground was completely re-landscaped with the slopes being terraced and miles of paths built so that visitors can see everything at close hand.

The most prominent features at the Eden Project are two enormous enclosures, shaped like giant interconnecting bubbles, that are the “Rainforest Biome” and the “Mediterranean Biome”. A “biome” can be defined as a self-contained ecological community.

The Rainforest Biome is 787 feet (240 metres) long, 361 feet (110 metres) wide and 164 feet (50 metres) high. This is large enough to contain fully grown tropical trees. The temperature inside the biome is kept at up to 35⁰C (95⁰F) and the humidity is kept high by sprays of mist. The biome has been called “the largest rain forest in captivity”.

Within the Rainforest Biome are more than 1000 plant species that are native to places including tropical Malaysia, Africa and South America. These include bananas, palms, rubber trees, coffee, sugar, pineapples and bamboo. It is therefore possible to see at first hand the plants that supply many of the foods that are imported to Great Britain but are otherwise taken for granted. A walkway leads at high level through the biome, so visitors can experience the tropical canopy at close quarters.

One remarkable exhibit is a “corpse plant” from Sumatra. This produces the biggest flower in the world, at ten feet in height, followed a single leaf that grows to the height of a small tree. When in bloom the flower produces a stench like that of rotting meat which attracts flies that pollinate the plant.

The environment of the Mediterranean Biome is a little cooler, at between 15⁰C and 25⁰C. The plants featured here are those to be found in the Mediterranean region, California, South Africa, southwest Australia and Chile. These plants have to endure long dry spells in summer followed by cooler and wetter winters, and often grow in poor soils. Growing in the biome are tobacco, vines, olives and fruits such as lemons and oranges.

As well as being a living museum of worldwide ecology, the Eden Project has an important scientific purpose in investigating how plant environments can be defended and also how plants could be developed for the benefit of mankind through discoveries of new medicinal and food uses.

The Eden Project is about science and education, but also about entertainment – there is a concert venue here for example. An enjoyable and engrossing day out, whatever the weather, is virtually guaranteed for every visitor.

© John Welford