Blogs for June 2017

Win a Family Ticket to Pendennis Castle in our Facebook Prize Draw

Posted on Tuesday 20th June, 2017

Win a Family Ticket and discover over 450 years of history at this impressive fortress built by Henry VIII.

The family ticket is valid for 2 adults and 3 children for a visit in 2017.

The prize draw is open to fans of our Facebook page. For full details and to enter please visit our Facebook page here.

The prize draw will close at midnight on 27th June 2017

For full rules of entry please click here: http://bit.ly/2svTC7m

For more information on the Pendennis Castle please click here http://bit.ly/2bRCFhq

Can-do idea helps Eden’s Paul Stone win gold at Gardeners’ World show

Posted on Friday 16th June, 2017

The Eden Project’s landscape manager has won a gold medal at the Gardeners’ World Live show – with the help of tin cans recycled from the project.

Paul won the prize in his own name for a nostalgia garden set in the 1960s, designed to celebrate 50 years of BBC’s Gardeners’ World.

Paul said: “I was delighted to be asked by the show organisers to have a look back at the way gardening used to be. The public are invited into a late 60s village setting and can see how planting and potting was back then and how things have changed - or not!”

One of the big changes since that time is the introduction of plastic pots for containerised plants. Fifty years ago, metal cans were still widely used.

Paul sought out some empty tomato and bean cans from the Eden Kitchen and turned them into eye-catching planters.

He said: “Using the cans is a lovely piece of recycling and reminds gardeners that there are good alternatives to plastic pots.”

The medal-winning garden on show at Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC Birmingham until Sunday is due to be featured on BBC 2’s Gardeners’ World this evening (Friday June 16), after Paul gave leading presenter Monty Don a tour.

Paul is a very experienced landscape gardener and has spent many years designing and building gardens at Royal Horticultural Society shows, winning a clutch of medals along the way.

Visit edenproject.com

The Cornish Chough was plentiful in Poldark days!

Posted on Friday 9th June, 2017

The Red-billed Chough is Cornwall’s iconic bird, depicted on the coat of arms and often called the ‘Cornish Chough’. And was said to be plentfiul in Poldark days.

Today there is a small population of about 10 pairs of these sleek crows living along the coast, but going back to the days of Poldark it was described as ‘plentiful’ and being seen in ‘great flocks’*.

Alison Hales, Director of Paradise Park comments “They live in the same places where evidence of mining is seen, including around the tin mine engine houses which were built on the edge of rocky Atlantic Ocean cliffs. Choughs appear to enjoy the challenge of living in these areas, coping magnificently with the harsh conditions and strong winds. They forage for insects in the cliffscapes and choose deep caves to build their twiggy nests.”

In the summer season you can see some of the friendliest choughs at Paradise Park flying in the afternoon ‘Free Flying Bird Show’. The choughs in the flying shows have been trained to fly to a Cornish Flag!

The choughs that appear in the show are called Cece and Sienna, and a new chough who is currently in training has been named ‘Melza’, a nod to Ross Poldark’s true love and red-head Demelza!

Find out more here

Camel Creek Adventure Park near Wadebridge has never been easier to reach.

Posted on Tuesday 6th June, 2017

Camel Creek Adventure Park near Wadebridge has never been easier to reach. Cornish bus company First Kernow has now added the attraction as a stop on their Truro to Wadebridge route for the summer.

The ‘95’ will drop guests at the Camel Creek entrance on its journey between Truro and Wadebridge. The service will run Monday - Saturday through the summer and will provide an excellent way for families to make long lasting memories and discover new adventures.

Marc Morganhuws, Business Director of First Kernow explained “We're delighted to be working with Camel Creek to provide buses right to their front door”

The 95 route includes stops at: Truro bus station, Truro Tregurra Lane, St Erme, Fraddon, Indian Queens, St Columb Road, St Columb Major, Winnards Perch and Camel Creek Adventure Park.  More information and bus times are available at www.camelcreek.co.uk/how-to-find-us

Gardeners’ World to showcase Eden’s exciting new features

Posted on Thursday 1st June, 2017

Two spectacular new features at the Eden Project are due to star in BBC Two’s Gardeners’ World programme on Friday June 2.

The show is set to feature artwork from an award-winning show garden as well as Eden’s new Western Australia Garden in the Mediterranean Biome showcasing the fascinating and beautiful flora of the region.

Leading garden designer Arit Anderson created the climate change-themed Near Future Garden, which won a gold medal at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show last year (2016).

She has brought elements of her Garden to the outdoors at the Eden Project, as a permanent addition to the energy trail along the zig zag path, the main route towards the Biomes.

Planting in this area is dedicated to ancient plants, showing their evolution through time. The Near Future Garden artworks compliment this and add a strong message on climate change.

A striking vortex of black “oil” symbolises how the continual burning of fossil fuels is depleting the Earth of the essential organic carbon that it needs to balance increasing carbon dioxide emissions.

This unique artistic interpretation of the impact of oil was conceived by Arit and built in conjunction with a specialist water feature company called Tills Innovations.

Further down the path, a series of three hand-crafted wooden sculptures represent nature’s powerful renewable energies - the sun, wind and water.

These were designed and created by Charlie Whinney to provide three-dimensional structures that can be appreciated from two viewpoints.  Each element – the sun, wind and rain (water) - calls people to harness these natural sources of energy to power the world now to ensure the legacy of a low carbon future.

Arit said: “I’m so excited that Near Future Garden has now evolved and become part of the Eden Project communication about climate change. This is a huge honour, and thank you to everyone who was involved.”

Eden’s Director of Interpretation Dr Jo Elworthy said: “We were all delighted that Arit was happy for Eden to provide a permanent home for the garden installations. They look stunning and help to communicate the vital stories around climate change and what we can do to help address it.

“They beautifully complement the story of the Weather Maker in our Rainforest Biome showing how the rainforest helps to regulate the world’s climate.”

The episode of Gardeners’ World is also due to feature the new Western Australia Garden in the Mediterranean Biome.

The garden is full of fantastical and freaky exotics such as grass trees, kangaroo paws and wax flowers.

The unique body of plants is all the more remarkable because, in its natural habitat, it survives and thrives on some of the Earth’s oldest and most infertile soil.

Eden has collaborated with Kings Park and Botanic Garden in Perth, Western Australia, to recreate the iconic habitats of the south west of the vast state. Their senior curator, Grady Brand, travelled to Eden to help the expert horticulture team with this large-scale installation.

For more information, please see www.edenproject.com