Eden Project

All life on Earth depends on the survival of the plants that surround us - every day, we rely on plants from every continent on the planet. The Eden Project is a gateway into this fascinating, interactive world of plants and people: a living theatre exploring our global garden inheritance, revealing plants as you've never seen them before.

The idea began in 1995 with Sir Tim Smit, who had already restored the nearby Lost Gardens of Heligan, working alongside co-founder Jonathan Ball and architect Nicholas Grimshaw. Backed by around £56 million from the Millennium Commission alongside a wide range of other funders, construction began in 1998 in a disused china clay pit outside St Austell, and the Eden Project opened its doors to the public on 17 March 2001. What started as an ambitious Millennium project has since grown into one of the UK's most-loved attractions, welcoming more than 25 million visitors and contributing an estimated £6.8 billion to the South West's economy.

Set in the heart of Cornwall's clay mining country, Eden is a truly unique experience - a place to explore the extraordinary relationship between people and the plant world, and just how much we depend on plants for our very existence. The site's giant geodesic domes contain two distinct biospheres to explore: the Humid Tropics Biome, a jungle environment spanning South East Asia, West Africa and South America, and the Warm Temperate Biome, home to plant species from the Mediterranean, South Africa and California. Outside, a series of landscaped terraces let you explore everything from Wild Cornwall planting to the tea slopes.

Eden is very extensive and involves a good deal of walking, often up and down sloping terraces - a train runs regularly from the Visitor Centre to the Biomes entrance, but expect slopes once inside. Comfortable shoes are strongly recommended, and be ready for a jump in humidity and temperature (up to around 28°C) as you enter the Humid Tropics Biome, so wear light layers you can easily carry. Sun protection is worth bringing too, as the transparent ETFE cladding transmits UV light.

Allow a full day if you can - there's a huge amount to see, from stories of how humans use plants for food, medicine, construction and more, to hands-on workshops, themed tours, and demonstrations of sustainable, resource-conscious design for the future. As an educational charity at its core, Eden reinvests the income from admissions straight back into its environmental and community learning programmes.