South of Eden

The BIG DAY. The Silver Vixen's birthday today. She opened all her cards and presents before getting out of bed. She had a wonderful collection of really nice cards and some lovely presents. I'm sure the new purse from Betty and Barney Rubble with the trademark of "Fossil" was not meant to be a statement on the advancing years, nor the hand made card based on a dried up leaf skeleton from Patti... but then again!

The weather is better today. Dry and gentle with mottle grey clouds and no sign of a breeze (at least down here by the river bank). The view from the suite is really lovely, across the the gently lapping river to Polruan on the east bank, downstream towards the sea, or up towards Bodinnick.


Polruan from Fowey 


The Fowey Water Front 

So we set off to the Eden Project. The Gorse Fox, thinking he was Magellan, didn't bother checking the map so ended up the wrong side of St Austell. They'd only gone and built it somewhere other than he had thought... and what's more it was a lot closer to the hotel that he'd assumed. Turned round and went to the right place.
154 photos later we got back to the hotel.

What can I say about the Eden Project? It was superb, and surpassed my expectations by a long way. Reading about it, and seeing it on TV doesn't prepare you for the scale of the thing. It is vast, and the interconnecting Biodomes are just magnificent.


The Biodomes 


The Gorse Fox 

We started our tour with a gentle stroll down from the visitor's centre, stopping briefly to look at the ice rink, but declining the opportunity to damage any ligaments or bones. We then moved on, passing some ornamental vegetable planting to the Humid (Tropical) Dome. When the Gorse Foxes glasses cleared it became evident that this was huge and the planting was delivered on a massive scale. Picking mid-November, the place was pretty empty, so we were able to stop and start and retrace our steps at will. One suspects that this would not have been so easy when busy at the height of summer.


Stream in Biodome 


Waterfall in Biodome 


Silver Vixen in Biodome 

We wound our way through the dome zigging and zagging and crossing and re-crossing the stream that is fed from a big waterfall. There were exhibits describing bananas, rice, herbs, coffee, bamboo. It just went on and on.

At one point in the traversal we caught up with Patsy. This was the name we gave to a clone of Patsy from AbFab. She was of a certain age - i.e. late 50's or 60's, dressed to the nines, suede boots, blond long hair, and makeup that must have been put on with a trowel. I suppose you could even call the makeup impressionistic. She was a caricature, and evidently immensely bored with the progress of the party she was with. (I suspect she was dying to get back to the bolly).

It had taken us a good hour to traverse the first dome. We then stopped in the interconnecting area for a drink before continuing the tour.

After our comfort stop we continued into the temperate dome. This was more interesting and yet less impressive. It was interesting because it featured more plants that we are directly familiar with. There were exhibits looking at olives, scents, cork, vines, grasses and so forth. However, the scale was more familiar and that made the dome seem more sparse.


Vine Sculptures 

An interesting lessen for us all is that we should drink wines with genuine corks, rather than plastic stoppers or caps... because the farming and harvesting of cork oak is good for the environment, for insects, birds, and for pigs which graze the acorns.

From the temperate zone we went outside and started to zig zag through the exhibits which covered beer and tea among others. There was also clever planting on the steep slopes to bind the earth and prevent erosion of the banks.


Eden's bee 


Farmer 


Silver Vixen 

We filtered out by way of the shop, where we indulged in a little retail therapy before heading back to the hotel.

In the evening we decided to eat in the restaurant at the hotel. The chef is advertised as Nick Fisher, as if we should know who he is. We don't. But then, to be fair, he probably doesn't know who we are either. The restaurant was quiet and only the tables clustered by the windows were occupied.

It soon became evident from the muted conversations that we were surrounded bu pretentious 30-something foodies. This proved to be a great source of amusement throughout the meal. I think one of the lines that I liked best was delivered soto voce to the waitress: "We would like a creme brulee, and selection of cheeses, but our wine has run out. Could you bring the wine list so that we can select a dessert wine?".

Our meal was excellent, and presented beautifully on glass plates. (When you've finished with them you can use them as windows). The starter was a delicious mixture of pork and prawns. This was followed by Sea Bass for the Birthday Girl and Red Mullet for the Gorse Fox. We both finished of with a creme brulee made from clotted cream with a blackcurrant crumble accompaniment.