The Eden Project

The Eden Project opened in March 2001 after 2 1/2 years in the making.  It is the brainchild of Dutch-born businessman Tim Smit, with the site and biomes designed by architect Nicholas Grimshaw.  Costing around £80 million and built in an old china clay pit near the Southern Cornwall village of St Austell, Eden is dominated by enormous transparent biomes.

The biomes house plants collected from all around the world and are made from hundreds of hexagonal and pentagonal, inflated plastic cells supported by steel frames. The first dome emulates a tropical environment, and the second a Mediterranean environment.  The outside area is also described as a biome and features areas such as "Wild Cornwall". 

The Eden Project aims to educate people about environmental matters and encourages a greater understanding and empathy with nature. 

I found the biomes fascinating, particularly the tropical one. 

Bottom middle pictures are of Emily very nicely displaying a coffee plant
with a close up of the beans on the right

I didn't know that about pepper and I'd never seen a cardamom plant.

And I'm not sure this little fella was meant to be in here, but he was very good about having his picture taken!