Eden Visit

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 6 Jun 2017 22:47
A Much Needed Return Visit to the Eden Project
 
 
 
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After a leisurely breakfast, Geoff prised us from watching the bird feeders and their hungry garden visitors, enthusiasm took over as we were being taken back to the Eden Project – neither of us remember exactly the last time we were there but it must be around ten years. First, a quick stop at the local Post Office which gave us a good laugh, Minions has become a worldwide name as opposed to the pretty little Cornish village with a normal sign. The Minions sign was used in promotion, taken away, but soon replaced due to popular demand.
 
 
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Soon parked, we walked down from the car park passing the familiar picture we both remember of the kaolinite pit near St Blazey. This clay pit was in use for over a hundred and sixty years, in 1981 it was used by the BBC as the planet surface of Magrathea in the TV series of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. By the mid-1990s the pit was all but exhausted. No sooner than the Eden Project was first mentioned on the local news than I bought a ‘Friends’ ticket for twenty five pounds, I often used park on the top road and each my lunch, slowly over the months things took shape. Ten years on and much had changed. The first part of the Eden Project, the visitor centre, opened to the public in May 2000. The first plants began arriving in September of that year, and the full site opened on the 17th of March 2001.

 

 

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On leaving the original Visitor Centre at the top we saw the Eden Project of today - magnificent.

 

 

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Half way down the meandering path we stopped to take in the views. The Biomes were familiar but the almost complete green covering the pit walls was breath taking – just a tiny bald patch visible on the right and new to us is the concert area.

A Bit of History: The project was conceived by Tim Smit in 1996 and designed by architect Nicholas Grimshaw and engineering firm Anthony Hunt and Associates (now part of Sinclair Knight Merz). Davis Langdon carried out the project management, Sir Robert and Alfred McAlpine did the construction (beginning in 1998), MERO designed and built the biomes, and Arup was the services engineer, economic consultant, environmental engineer and transportation engineer. Land use consultants led the masterplan and landscape design. The project took thirty months to construct and the in 2002 was used as a filming location for the 2002 James Bond film, Die Another Day. On the 2nd of July 2005 The Eden Project hosted the "Africa Calling" concert of the Live 8 concert series. It has also provided some plants for the British Museum's Africa garden.   

 

 

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Nearing the bottom of the path was another familiar sight – a photograph of the flooded project as it sits 15 metres (49 feet) below the water table. Not all went to plan and many hurdles had to be overcome in the early days. The information alongside the picture reads:

Pit to Paradise. Transformation:clay pit to global garden, 1999 – 2001.

Drain. 1999. In the first two months it rained solidly; 43 million gallons of water drained into the pit. The engineers turned disaster to triumph, coming up with a drainage system that could take anything the weather chucked at it.

Strain. The rain is strained. Layers of matting and granite, under the landfill in the pit, direct the water into the drains and act like a giant tea strainer to remove the sediment. By the time the water gets to our 22 metre deep sump it is as clear as crystal.

 

 

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We began our adventure in the (new to us) Visitor Centre, full of interesting facts, conservation issues and on the top floor, a microscopic view of our insides...........

 

 

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We then bimbled past several plant beds to the Mediterranean Biome, this one  covers 1.6 acres and measures 35 metres (115 feet) high, 65 metres (213 feet) wide, and 135 metres (443 feet) long. It houses familiar warm temperate and arid plants such as olives and grape vines and various sculptures, but first time for a very pleasant lunch.

 

 

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Smashing to see how well all the Mediterranean plants are doing, seeing some of the African, our old friend the Minotaur and his companions and then on to the Western Australian temporary visitors wearing their bright colours.

 

 

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Next was a visit to the Tropical Biome covering 3.9 acres and measures 55 metres (180 feet) high, 100 metres (328 feet) wide, and 200 metres (656 feet) long. It is used for tropical plants, such as fruiting banana plants, coffee, rubber and giant bamboo, and is kept at a tropical temperature and moisture level.

 

 

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Incredible to think this is how this biome looked in the beginning. The information alongside this photograph reads:

Pit to Paradise. Bringing in the plants, 2000 – 2001. Extreme gardening.

Our 45-strong Green Team often plant near-vertical banks; have planted millions of plants of around 5,000 types, plant around 60,000 new plants annually; start at 7:30 every day to prune and water before you arrive; do 50 hours weeding a week in summer; remove about 25 cubic metres of green waste from the site every week and recycle this material to make 120 tonnes of compost a year.

Here in our rainforest they have raised and planted 1,138 different species and cultivars. Many of our plants are grown from seed in our nursery; some from botanic gardens, research stations and nurseries, mostly in Europe and the UK.

 

 

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Plants, pictures and a pose on the swinging bridge with Sabby............

 

 

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............an amazing factoid or two, then Geoff treated us all to an ice cream before we headed up to the shop for a bimble.

 

 

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It was lovely to see the bee we loved and remembered on our walk to the ‘train stop’ to take us to the top.

 

 

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I got to watch some little chaps in the shelter as two friends sat in the queue chatting.

 

 

 

 

ALL IN ALL SIMPLY FANTASTIC

                     AMAZING TO SEE HOW EVERYTHING HAS MATURED