Looe

Today’s highlight was the Eden Project. We left Looe at 9 30 and 45 minutes later, after yet another interesting drive down country lanes we arrived at the Eden Project. Having already read about it in New Zealand we were totally unprepared for what we experienced. We walked down a long path from the car park to see a valley surrounded by bush covered hills with several huge clear coloured domes at the bottom. Inside the two biomes are plants that are collected from many diverse climates and environments. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit and was established 20 years ago. The photos do not show the scale of the domes but the Eden Project is a global garden housed in tropical biomes that nestle in a crater the size of 30 football pitches. Surrounding the domes are beautiful gardens but it is the inside that is so impressive. The rainforest biome was absolutely amazing with several levels of walkway, numerous gardens, interesting sculptures and walkways, some interesting birds, a waterfall and the most amazing smells and temperatures of a rainforest. The second biome was a Mediterranean one and featured a huge variety of plants along with more interesting gardens, walkways and sculptures. The whole focus of the project is to educate people about the importance of plants to the world and how the world may look in the future. The third area of the project was the The Core which was a building used for education, but which also housed two amazing sculptures, one a permanent installation entitled Seed, which was a 70 tonne egg-shaped stone installation standing some 13 feet (4.0 m) tall and displaying a complex pattern of protrusions that are based upon the geometric and mathematical principles that underlie plant growth. The second was a sculpture named Blue. Measuring nearly nine metres tall and firing out vapour rings, it is thought to be the world’s biggest ceramic sculpture.The spectacular structure contains 32 cannons which project scented vapour rings into the exhibition space. It was truly amazing, as was the reaction of a large group of school students who were trying to catch the vapour rings as they floated by. The Eden Project is truly worth a visit. Our afternoon was spent in Polperro just 10 minutes from Looe. It was a tiny fishing village famous for its smuggling history, and although the day was very grey and many of the shops were closed because it was Monday it was still a beautiful place to visit and wander around. We arrived back at the cottage for a rest before heading into the village for dinner at a lovely wee restaurant overlooking the harbour. Our meal was lovely and we wandered slowly back to Clara’s Cottage for our last night in Looe.Read more