Stephen and I visited The Eden Project on the Thursday of our holiday.
The Eden Project is situated in an old clay pit. The sides of the pit have been terraced and planted with plants suitable for the local climate. The two famous biomes are located at the bottom of the pit, and back onto the rear of the pit.
The biome on the right is the temperate biome, while the one on the left is the tropical biome. The tropical biome is by far the larger, but it is further away from this viewpoint outside the visitor centre. It is possible to take a "tractor train" to the biomes and back to save the not inconsiderable walk, but Stephen and I elected to use our legs and to take a leisurely look at what is growing on the way down.
The Eden Project is about man's relationship with plants, and there are sculptures dotted around the site to illustrate different aspects of this relationship. This rope-filled sculpture by George Fairhurst depicts man's relationship with hemp.
Within the temperate biome, there is an area devoted to man's relationship with the grape. Among the vines is a sculpture by the Cornish-based sculptor Tim Shaw of Dionysis, the Greek god of wine, depicted as a giant bull, which I have shown on the far left. There are also sculptures of the Maenads, one of which is shown on the near left.
Here are some of the flowers I photographed in the temperate biome.
Within the much larger tropical biome, there are winding paths and stairs which take you up almost to the roof of the biome. Here are two views from within the upper areas of the tropical biome.
Here is the Humid Tropics arch, created by Paul Spooner. On the left we have "nature", represented by flowers and fruits, while on the right we have "artifice", represented by cola, icecream and other such manufactured products. The two sides "grow" and meet to form an arch at intervals during the day, but I wasn't lucky enough to see it happen.
Within the tropical biome there is a waterfall which drops into an almost still pool at the bottom. I would assume that there must be a pump circulating the water, as the level of the pool at the bottom doesn't change appreciably. I was fascinated by the patterns on the surface of the pool. There must be quite a bit of clay in the water coming down the waterfall to cause this effect!
This section of a large leaf struck me as making an interesting photograph.
Here are some of the flowers I photographed in the tropical biome.
