Eden Project
What is the Eden Project
First and foremost, Eden is home to an educational, environmental charity, The Eden Trust.
A living theatre of plants and people and a botanical garden too — the world poured into a pit, housing the largest rainforest in captivity.
A unique regeneration project transforming a worked out scar on the landscape into a global garden that demonstrates that sustainability is possible. A place for current thinking about future possibilities.
And a world-class visitor attraction that you’d be mad I to leave Cornwall without seeing!
Eden is the greatest stage on earth
The living theatre of plants, people and possibilities. And like every great theatre what happens on its stage is dramatic and constantly changing; so there is not just one Eden but many. Come in winter and it will be different from the summer, in autumn different from the spring.
The Eden Trust didn’t build this place as a theme park, but as a living symbol of the strength of people working with the grain of nature to repair damaged places and make our environment rich and healthy. It’s a living demonstration of regeneration.
An exhausted, worked out china clay pit turned into a stunning lost world reminding us of what we ‘ordinary’ people can do once we set our minds to it. But it is a fun place too, for all ages, or the eight million who have come wouldn’t have bothered, nor the three million who have already come back!
Eden is a charity
And because we’re a charity the government wants to help us develop all that good stuff we do on site, so we qualify for GiftAid — a scheme whereby we can claim back the tax on donations and gifts you make to the Eden Trust. It’s worth 28p in the pound to us if you’re a UK taxpayer.
What’s in it for you?
Well, if you make us that gift we’ll let you in free for a whole year! And we can count the amount you pay to get in as such a gift!
It couldn’t be simpler. Either pay our daily admission price and get in for a day or instead choose to make a gift of the same amount and get entry for a whole year! It’s up to you. Once you’ve made a gift you get annual membership and we can get the tax back if you tell the team on ticketing that GiftAiding your gift is fine by you!
The choice is yours... but please make us that gift! It really is that easy. There’s no catch. You win. We win. And the taxman’s happy.
The world's largest greenhouse
No idle claim — just check with The Guinness Book of Records. Our Rainforest Biome is home to the tallest rainforest in captivity; a place to experience the sights, smells and sheer scale of that challenged landscape. Discover here the tropical plants found in the products we use every day and understand the ways in which they are being managed for a positive future for us all.
Bulb Mania 2007
Bulb Mania returns for it's fourth year this spring and just gets better and better with over a million bulbs painting the outdoor landscape in swathes of colour. Come in March for the daffodils, April for the tulips and May for the lilies. It really has become a 'must-see' event alongside the magnolias, rhododendrons and camellias of the other great Cornish gardens.
The Core
On 1 June 2006, Her Majesty the Queen opened our breathtaking new home for education on site — The Core. The shape of a sunflower and the size of a spaceship The Core takes its inspiration from nature. It has already been listed in the top ten UK buildings for using renewable energy and is a masterpiece of function and aesthetics.
Its unique roof is based on nature’s fundamental growth blueprint — opposing spirals of the Fibonacci sequence where every number is the sum of the previous two — 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34. Look at a pineapple next time you’re in the supermarket and you’ll find 8 spirals one way and 13 the other making up that familiar studded pattern. Look at the roof of The Core and you’ll find 21 spiralling beams one way and 34 the other; then try and work out how the architects drew it and how the carpenters twisted every single beam one way and then the other. Each one different. And stand by (or stand out of the way!) when we lift the roof off in late June and pop in a 70 tonne granite sculpture of a seed. The biggest piece of rock art moved since the Egyptians taught us how.
Old Olive Groves And gnarled vines
Our other conservatory is home to the plants of the Mediterranean, South Africa and California. Walk amongst orange and lemon trees and take in those holiday smells.
It is easy to forget when confronted by our jaw- dropping architecture that three-quarters of Eden’s plants need no greenhouse — they just grow outside under the warm Cornish sun. Crescent-shaped terraces tell the story of plants that have changed the world and those which could change our future. You’ll find hemp and lavender growing outside here. Tea too! Eden is the only place in the world where cocoa grows across the way from sunflowers and where a sea of poppies looks down on tea and rice plantations growing side by side outside. A place where the largest rainforest canopy in captivity looks down on the only cannabis plantation licensed for education in the UK. And it changes all the time.
Now all that detailed stuff...
How much?
Adults £14.00, Seniors £10.00, Students £7.00, Children £5.00, Family £35.00 (two adults and up to three children in full-time education). Under fives are free.
Free entry for a year
Remember, make a gift on entry instead of paying the daily admission and you’re not with us for just a day—you have free entry for a year. And then, please take a minute to sign up for GiftAid at ticketing. Just imagine the difference a million visitors can make to our work by bothering.
Opening hours
We’re open every day of the year except Christmas Day and Christmas Eve, though very occasionally there might be slight variations to this, so if you’re travelling long distances it’s as well to check before setting off.
In summer
26 March to 28 October we will be open from 1000am ‘til 600pm with last entry at 430pm. In winter it’s 1000am to 430pm with last entry at 3.OOpm. During summer school holidays and the June half- term we will open the car parks at 900am, the outdoor parts of the site at 930am and the greenhouses at 1000am. So you can come a little earlier in high season to get on site comfortably.
Places to eat?
Hungry? There’s something for everyone. You’ll find fresh, healthy food from around the corner and across the world, all responsibly sourced. There’s a coffee (and tea) house when you arrive; local foods in the Gallery in the summer; Superfoods in The Core and in the Link between the Biomes, a busy explorer’s fast option on one side and fabulous Mediterranean cuisine and a celebration of the pasty on the other. There are always seasonal offers linked to our events. Each eating place has a story to tell. Check out all the details when you arrive. And, yes, you’re welcome to bring a picnic - and why not add an ice cream and a drink to it when you’re here.
How to get to us
Although we like to look after cyclists, walkers and riders we know that the vast majority of our visitors (83%) want to come by car. We are well signposted from the A30, A390 and A391.
Alternatively you can reach us by bus or train
The award-winning Eden Branchline bus service runs six or seven times a day from St Austell railway station connecting with most mainline trains. Through tickets are available from any rail station in the UK and include admission to the Project. It’s a good deal! For details phone National Rail enquiries on 08457 484950 or our great friends Truronian buses on 01872 273453. Details of other buses are available from Traveline on 0870 608 2608 .
Or get on your bike!
Bikes are very welcome at Eden. On arrival make yourself known at the pre-paid ticket desk where you will beat any queues and enjoy £4 off the adult entry charge for pedalling to see us. Kids under 15 on bikes accompanied by an adult come free.
Dogs
We don’t encourage visitors to bring dogs to Eden and, other than guide dogs, they are not allowed on the main site. We do have very limited shaded car parking in three of our car parks available on a first come first served basis but still strongly advise against bringing dogs to the Project.
