We live about 15 miles east of Eden.

I think most UK residents will have heard of this amazing place, built into the pit left by china clay workings. For anyone who’s not heard of it, it’s a kind of a cross between a horticulturists dream and an eco-warrior. The ‘reasons to go’ are two enormous biomes, one of which contains a temperate climate (basically like the Med) and the other is tropical. Both are full of plants and there are educational parts, where you can see coffee, cocoa and rubber (among others) being grown.

The eco-warrior tag is, I think, a reasonable one – the whole place has been set up to ask people to assess the environmental impact of their own consumption. The Weee Man seems to live there permanently now, there are rainwater-flushed toilets and irrigation systems and a whole host of other eco-friendly things too. (Didn’t notice any tumble drier balls…..)

Over the years, we’ve been there many times and since we moved here, we’ve been season ticket holders. That’s where you pay £3 on top of the £12.50 entry fee and get unlimited access for a whole year. That in itself is pretty cool. Today though, we needed to renew our season tickets, which expired last month, so we went along expecting to shell out £31 on two £12.50 tickets, plus upgrades. When we got there we were asked if we were residents of Cornwall (you have NO idea how much of a thrill it is to say ‘Yes’ to that question) and when we proved that we were indeed ‘locals’ we were charged a tenner for both annual tickets. How cool is that? A year later and we get our £15 each tickets for £5 each.

We’re regularly visited by people who’ve been there/are going there and we’re often asked to take people who come to see us along. From here on in, the next visit is £2.50 and it only gets better from there. Hats off to Eden for such a wonderful gesture. Oh how we both love the place.

BTW – we went to their winter festival night time session and this is the BIG fire behind the ice rink getting stoked and sending sparks into the sky.

Last year, Rosie was having a funny turn.