St Austell, Cornwall The Eden Project

I live 20 minutes drive from the Eden project and with my family's annual pass we go at least once a month! I can only assume that people who complain about it are just a little sheltered?! The car parking is free and monitored constantly with staff directing you to the closest spaces, if you have to park far away there is a free buss every few minutes down to the main entrance. There is ever sheltered parking for the people who feel the need to drag their dogs out and leave them in the car all day. The plants are amazing and every effort is made to make people think about how their daily actions effect the world around them. In peak seasons there are special day events held for children and their families at no extra cost and if it hasn't been for a friendly skating helper on the ice, me and my two year old would still be stuck there haha.

We love it and anyone who says its not great or an amazing idea/charity is seriously mislead.. x

The Eden Project is not worth visiting.

Very expensive and over commercial

The Lost Gardens of Heligan is was much better value

I have visited The Eden Project on three occasions, 2006, 2007 and 2009, at the request of my grandchildren. Food: poor and expensive.Expensive parking and entrance costs - particularly for children.Has begun to look grubby and dated - needs an urgent face lift!Cost of items in 'the shop' are ridiculous.Does little to encourage people like myself to visit Cornwall.

We turned up on a showery day, having struggled to get around a St Austel 'short cut' - come in from via the north if you can. Once parked, an efficient free shuttle bus takes you down to the entrance.

The pre-registered gift-aided member's tickets allowed us to enter quickly and to return anytime within the next year; although the latter is of little use if you don't live locally, it prevents the tax man getting his cut. Some unscrupulous 'members' try to sell theirs on through auction sites.

As long as you've get there early enough to register, there are lots of kids activities going on in the centre - by 11.15 am they were all fully booked and only the chaotic 'den building' activity was left. As you're able to book in for the following days activities, I'm not sure what time you would have had to arrive to get on any list.

The kids enjoyed the story teller, who was very enthusiastic and tried to involve everyone there. The rainforest dome was great, but take somethiing to drink as the kids got hot and tired towards the end. The hands-on mechanical ball moving exhibit is a fascinating piece of engineering design.

Although the food stalls seemed quite pricey, they were still very busy; though it could just have been everybody trying to get out of the rain. Take a packed lunch or see what limited online downloadable money-off coupons are available - breakfast and cream teas?

All in all, a great day out for everyone. Next time we would try to get there early enough to try and book onto some of the kids activities - possibly with a discounted breakfast..

We visited the Eden project in October 2004. No queues, good food, brilliant biomes and good gift shop. Weather was great. We stayed at a lovely B&B just down the road called Eden view bed and breakfast. Hotel standards for B&B prices.

St Austell, Cornwall The Eden Project - Myself and partner (34 and 23) attended with the two children. there seemed very little for the kids to do and their highlight of the day was the tractor ride back to the car park.

The food was excellent if pricy and the dining area was well laid out.

We felt the day out would have been more suited to an older couple or perhaps someone with green fingers...

We visited The Eden Project in August 2002.

Arrival at the site was no problem-it is well sign posted from St Austell but we were also helped by the timing of our visit (see later).

Car parking is extensive but shaded parking is very limited. Discounts are offered for people using more environmentally friendly transport such as bikes.

The project is sited in a converted quarry and arrival treats visitors to a superb view over the site. Walking down the sloped walkways between scores of flags starts to prepare you for this amazing place.

We concentrated on the two main domes (biomes) although there are a number of other display areas which are well worth visiting (floral/sculptural displays, specialist vegetable displays, Cornish Craft displays as well as seasonal events such as African Drumming/singing etc).

One of the biomes mimics a tropical climate, whilst the other reproduces a Mediterranean climate. As a feat of engineering, the domes are amazing structures but the depth and cross section of plants they contain is truly breathtaking. Plants are organised by continent/country and there are enough features and plants to keep both young and old interested. The walkways are lit at night by coloured lighting. By visiting on the lae night opening days, visitors can get the best of both effects - the rich colours of the foliage during light and the amazing shapes of the leaves and trees when lit at night.

We were fortunate that visitor numbers were low at the time we visited but I can imagine that the humid climate of the tropical biome could become seriously oppressive and almost if visitor numbers were excessive which could be a problem if you are a bit claustrophobic.

There are a number of restaurants. Whilst we were there only the 'Mexican Red' restaurant was open. Prices were very reasonable for the quality of food (£4-£8 for a well cooked main meal). There are other facilities but these were not open during our 'night' visit (but if they are of the standard of the Mexican red, you should have no problems).

We visited the site on one of the late night openings (either Tuesday and Wednesday - open until approx 9.30pm depending on visitor numbers). This had a number of advantages

1.vistor numbers are lower (The Eden Centre currently attracts 70,000 visitors per week)-we had no problems with queues but from the provisions made for queue management, this may be a problem at peak times during the day-advanced booking can, I am advised, minimise this at peak times,

2. the biomes can be viewed both in light and dark (which adds another dimension to them);

3. if you have a pet to look after, there are more shaded car park spots available and the temperature is cooler and

4. Rates are reduced for admission after 6pm.

The only downside of a later visit is that you probably need a couple of visits to get round everything as some of the peripheral exhibits are closed earlier together with some of the extra eating areas.

All in all, with the high expectations we had after the publicity The Eden Project has received we certainly found it an amazing experience and we are looking forward to returning to see more of the exhibits on future visits to Cornwall.