The Eden Project is one of my most favourite places to visit in Cornwall. I must have been at least a dozen times and I always come away feeling very inspired and uplifted!
Eden is a big drive from St Ives (it takes about 1.5 hours) and so we don’t do it that often. However, because we were staying at the lovely Trevella Park on our glamping weekend we decided to visit – it being that little bit closer.
We normally visit the Eden Project on a weekend out of the school holidays. It is a very popular attraction and it does get very busy. This visit though was right at the start of the school holidays, so we were prepared for it to be very busy!
We arrived at about 11:30am (after packing up and saying goodbye to our lovely Safari Tent). We parked in Cherry car park which was one of the last ones there and managed to jump on a bendy bus that took us straight down to Eden. The walk would have been a long one!
I was expecting long queues and a big wait to get our tickets (we hadn’t pre-booked), but we were surprised that it only took a few minutes. Although there were obviously lots of people there visiting, it wasn’t overwhelming or crowded and we didn’t have to queue for anything for very long.
The Tractor Train Ride
It is a fairly big walk (if you are small with little legs) down the hill into the Eden Project, so we took the tractor train down instead. This made my tractor mad 3 year old VERY happy! To be driven down by a big blue tractor was something really special to him. And it saved his legs from getting tired too soon!
Coffee Stop
Once we got down the hill we decided to start the visit off with a quick pit stop for refreshments. We had some lovely cake and coffee – plus a visit from a little butterfly!
The Rainforest Biome
The rainforest biome is my absolute favourite. I love the heat, the smells and the whole feel of the place. It takes me back to my travels in the tropics and always makes me want to go places again!
Things For The Kids To Do
The Eden Project have been very clever in their set up of the biomes. Of course the plants are the absolute stars, but they have peppered them with interactive bits for the kids to explore. There are plants to spot, little houses to go into, waterfalls, wheels to turn, buttons to press, drawers to open and all sorts of bits to capture their imaginations.
Rainforest Canopy Sky Walkway
I’ve visited Eden many times over the last few years, but this is the first time the kids would go on the Rainforest Canopy Sky Walkway. It was high and wobbly but they loved it!
Waterfall
When you walk through the Rainforest Biome you can hear the sound of a waterfall. It gets louder and louder, the higher up you go until you come to the waterfall itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvDejCLfds8
Lunchtime
After a good hour exploring the rainforest biome, we headed out for some lunch.
There are lots of food options to choose from at Eden. Street food stalls, various cafes and places to buy food and drink. Eden caters really well for all different kinds of diets – veggie, vegan, gluten free. And lots of their food is organic and locally sourced.
There are plenty of places to eat your picnic too, if you have brought in your own food.
Eden do the BEST picnic lunch for kids. They get to choose 5 items from a good range of healthy things. Mine chose chopped up cucumber, pepper & carrot, little sausages, grapes, jelly and an ham wrap. We had brought our own drinks so we didn’t need to buy them.
We chose some deliciously spicy Mexican food from Eden Cantina. Very delicious!
Expedition Space
Every Summer, Eden put on different activities for the kids to get involved in. This year it is space exploration. There were lots of different activities to do, such as mini-golf on Mercury, moon buggy driving, the Space slide and the mission to Mars.
The mission to Mars is very loud, hot, dark and scared my 3 year old a bit. However, he came out the other end and asked to do it again! My 7 year old loved it and said it was her most memorable bit to the visit.
Mission To Mars
Ice Creams
It was time for a bit of a pit stop break. We grabbed some very delicious icecreams (£2.90 for a tub plus flake) and had a sit in the shade by the sandpit. There are lots of lovely nooks and shady areas to explore and sit in in front of the biomes.
Mediterranean Biome
After we had got our energy back we went into the Mediterranean Biome. This is a lot cooler than the Rainforest Biome and is so fragrant. It is full of herbs and always reminds me of being on a cliff top in Greece on a warm, sunny day.
The Outside Gardens
The outside gardens in the Eden Project are so beautiful. I could spend hours just wandering around them, looking at the wonderful plants. My daughter has been studying bees at school and especially loved the giant bee and bee friendly area. The field of lavender full of bees and butterflies was stunning and quite mesmerising to watch.
Time To Leave
Once again it was time to leave the Eden Project and once again we still hadn’t done everything there was to do. We hadn’t been in the education centre, we hadn’t been to the soft play area. We hadn’t done all of the spacey things. We had been there for 6 hours and we were all pretty tired.
We finished the visit off with a little trip to the gift shop. We bought lots of bee related things – note pads, badges, pencils and honey, plus a little space shuttle.
We will be back soon Eden Project – one day we will see everything!
Useful Information About The Eden Project
The Sat Nav postcode for The Eden Project is PL24 2SG.
It takes about an hour to drive there from Newquay and about 1.5 hours from St Ives.
There is plenty of free car parking with a free bus down to the project.
The outside areas of The Eden Project are dog friendly and it is free to bring dogs in. However, dogs are not allowed in the biomes or exhibitions.
There are plenty of places to get food and drink in the Eden Project. They have cafes, restaurants, kiosks and street food stalls. There are also lots of water refill stations dotted around.
You can take your own food and drink into the Eden Project.
There are plenty of toilets and baby changing facilities.
Most of the Eden Project is wheelchair and buggy friendly. There are a few places such as the sky walkway that are not accessible.
Visit The Eden Project Website
Disclosure: we were given 2 free passes to the Eden Project for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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