7/20/17 The Gardens of Cornwall – part 2:

Seventeen years ago, on our last visit to Great Britain, while traveling around Cornwall looking for the tin mining tailings we came across a massive construction site for the Eden Project. It was an abandoned porcelain clay pit that was being repurposed as a giant greenhouse containing plant life from all around the world. The site was conducting tours of the grounds and the giant biomes and introducing the concept to visitors. We knew when we returned to the United Kingdom this time, that we would absolutely be visiting the completed Eden.

The same architect who restored the Heligan Gardens came up with the idea of the Eden Project. In two immense biomes (geodesic domes) he envisioned and helped bring to life the largest “captive” rainforest and Mediterranean landscapes with plants from Africa, Australia and the Americas. Outside gardens continued the great variety of plant life. Original artwork is scattered throughout the project. It is one hell of an idea.
Cornwall and China are the two largest producers of porcelain quality clay. The exhausted clay pit the Eden Project occupies is 60 meters deep, the area of 35 football (soccer) fields and 15 meters below the water table. It took 5 years to terraform, build the biomes and acquire, grow and plant the millions of 6000+ varieties of plants. They “made” 83,000 tons of soil from recycled waste and created their own water system by cleaning the seeping water that drains into the pit. They even have a zip line – purported to be the longest in Britain – and we believe it!
It is a sight to behold. We could not have begun to envision what the end product would look like 17 years ago when we first came across the Project.
If this sparks your interest google “Eden Project” for even more information. And next time you’re in England, make sure you go to Cornwall and visit the Eden Project.
For your pleasure here are some of the 150 photos we saved: