The Eden Project
Taking a self-catering Cornwall holiday in a rustic cottage doesn’t need to mean restricting your sightseeing to historic landmarks or the local countryside and sandy beaches. Beautiful as these things are, you can expand your horizons and wow your family with a visit to the world-famous Eden Project, which is situated less than an hour’s drive away from the lovely Cornish towns of Looe and Polperro.
The Eden Project is an enormous structure built along the side of a deep bit. The main structure is made up of three biome sections, areas which are designed to represent three of the most distinct types of climates and ecosystems that are found all around the world.
The first, and easily the most impressive, is the humid tropics biome. An enormous multi-domed greenhouse, this biome recreates the natural environment of a tropical rainforest. As well as giving visitors a taste of the warm, humid air typical to rainforest areas, the enclosure houses many hundreds of trees, flowers and other plants from rainforests across South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. The dome is over seven hundred feet long, one hundred and eighty feet high and more than three hundred and fifty feet across at its widest point.
The second biome represents warm temperate areas. While it has the same multi-domed structure as the humid tropics biome, the warm temperate biome instead houses a variety of plants and shrubs taken from temperate rainforests around the world. Temperate rainforests are a bit different to tropical rainforests – although they still receive a large amount of rain each year (hence the name) they are further away from the equator which means they experience distinct seasons rather than year-round tropical conditions. The warm temperate biome has plant life from a diverse range of temperate rainforests around the world including southern Africa, the Mediterranean and even California.
The final biome in the Eden Project is roofless, forming an open area full of varied plant life from the temperate Cornwall area as well as a selection of plants and trees from areas with similar climates in Chile, Asia, Australia and the Himalayas. This biome has over thirty acres of land covered in nature trails which visitors can explore to learn about the role of certain plants in human history (there’s a lot more to learn here than how people chop down trees)!
The Eden Project’s creators see their site as a lot more than a collection of plants and greenhouses. In fact their mission statement is to "promote the understanding and responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people and resources, leading towards a sustainable future for all.” The entire Project is full of information kiosks and artistic installations, and there are a lot of workshops and special events held to creatively inform visitors about environmental issues.
You’re bound to find something to do at the Eden Project regardless of when you are taking your holiday in Cornwall. Take a look at the Eden Project website for some ideas on upcoming activities so that you can plan your visit. Combine your trip with a taste of old-fashioned Cornish charm by staying at a holiday cottage in Looe or the nearby town of Polperro, both less than an hour’s drive away from the Eden Project. For a range of holiday cottages in Polperro and Looe which are ideally situated for families who want to get a taste of the world’s biomes at this amazing attraction, take a look at the many properties we have on offer, we specialise in family-friendly self-catering Cornwall holiday cottages.
