The Eden Project

The centre is made up of 35 acres of landscaped garden, including giant glass domes - which the project futuristically named "biomes" - housing flora and fauna from all over the world. The project was the brainchild of Tim Smit who wanted to create a botanical gardens which would make plant life and ecological issues accessible to large numbers of people. Located in Cornwall, the project also helped to regenerate one of the UK's most deprived rural areas.

The Eden Project is now one of Britain's most popular paid visitor attraction and many visitors say it is a factor in choosing their holiday destination. Daily attendance figures vary from 500 to a record 14,000.

The project uses performers, storytellers and guest speakers to tell the stories of ninety different plants all over the site. On average 250 school children a day visit the project, going on the education programme: a structured day, accompanied by an education pack, which teaches some botanical and environmental basics.

In its busiest season the project employs up to 600 local people, 380 of which are full time and permanent. The project's own research estimates that it has had an economic impact on Cornwall to the value of £105m.

For more ideas for days out around the UK you can read our blog post here or click here to find out more information about The Eden Project.