A Special Place (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

A Special Place

9:23pm Sunday 26th April 2009

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I've just returned from a few days away in Cornwall. During my time there, I managed to fulfill one of my dreams, which was to visit the Eden Project. A Special Place, the project was created from a deep scar left in the earth by a worked out clay mine. What an impressive leap of someone's imagination it was, to transform something so ugly, into such a haven of peace and tranquility.

The Guinness Book of Records states, the Eden Project is home to the largest greenhouse in the world. This greenhouse is made up of two themed domes. One housing a rainforest, the other is home to plants from the Mediterranean, South Africa and California.

Upon entering the rainforest dome, visitors are met with a polite notice asking that they refrain from feeding the livestock adding, that the livestock are already well fed. Now I suspect, this particular notice was met with more than a little puzzlement by first-time visitors to the dome. Myself included! My imagination began to run riot. Were there man-eating spiders roaming the captive rainforest? My blood pressure dropped a notch, when a second notice informed us, the livestock were nothing more sinister than lizards and natural predators including birds, which had been introduced to control the insect population.

As well as the indoor plants, a further three-quarters grow outdoors at Eden. A series of terraces grow everything, from wild to cultivated flowers, herbs, shrubs and trees, to tea, cocoa, rice and wait for it, a cannabis plantation. The only plantation licensed for education in the UK.

The next evolution of Eden will be 'The Edge.' Currently competing to win £50m of construction funding from the Big Lottery, Living Landmarks Awards. The Edge will focus on desert regions of the world, in the shape of a biome. Its context will be the oncoming water crisis, the challenges in the suppply of energy and the impacts of these changes to our climate. Deserts, gardens and an oasis will be created inside the biome, together with educational space for communities, families and school groups to share their ideas for the future.

A future with vision!!! The Eden Project is well worth a visit, if you are down that way.

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